Save Game
by Dranar Silverscale
Summary: The decendants of Mario and his friends fight to save both worlds from the clutches of Bowser. Chapter 10 now up!
1. The Adventure Begins

Disclaimer: I don't own Bowser, Mario, or any other Nintendo characters. I also don't own any of the people/characters/events/places that I may allude to.

Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins

"Man, what a lazy summer day," Michael thought aloud. He was sitting at his computer desk above his bed, staring out the window. The smog from the new factories built nearby was heavy, which kept him from opening the windows in the house, and the still air was stifling. "Why did Bowser have to build those factories in this part of the state? It's not like there's any resources around here. If the smog wasn't so bad, I would go outside." Mike said, conversing with himself. Mike was a tall, thin kid with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing his favorite outfit, a blue T-shirt with drab olive-green khaki shorts. He climbed down the ladder from the desk to the floor and started pacing. "What to do… What to do…" he mused to himself. "I can't go outside. Both of my parents are at meetings across the country. I'd play my 64 or Cube, but that's all I've done the past few days, and they've gotten a bit boring. Besides, they're illegal. If I was caught with one, then that's game over for me. Man, I wish something would happen!!" Suddenly, as if fate had obeyed his request, the doorbell rang, and the person started to pound on the door. "Once upon a midday dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious way of removing bore," Mike started, misquoting Poe's The Raven. "While I paced, my mouth sounding, suddenly there came a pounding, As of some one quite astounding, rapping at my house's door. ' It's some visitor,' I muttered, 'pounding at my house's door - Only this and nothing more," he continued. He walked up to the door and opened it slowly, while also looking through the open crack to see whom it was. Outside stood a girl about Mike's age, with shoulder-length brown hair a shade lighter than Mike's and tied into a ponytail. She wore a dark green T-shirt and jeans. She also wore a very stern and serious expression. "Hey, Rose, what are you doing here?" Mike asked his cousin.

"Can't talk. Things to do," she replied shortly.

"What 'things'?" Mike asked.

"Here," Rose said, handing Mike a duffel bag, "Pack up some things."

"Again with the things! What are they for?" Mike asked, getting irritated.

"A trip."

"Woah, don't get technical on me. Could you keep it general, please?" Mike replied, smiling as if he had just made a terrific joke.

"JUST DO IT!!!" Rose screamed at him. Mike turned and ran back to his room. _Best to just play along and see where this goes,_ he thought to himself. _Besides, when she yells like that, she's about to rip your head off._ He started shoving clothes and other things into his pack, like his pocketknife and a few books. He also grabbed his walking staff on the way out his door. _I may need this,_ he thought. Rose was still waiting for him near the door. "What took you?" she asked impatiently.

"Rose, please, just tell me what's going on," Mike pleaded.

"I can't tell you now."

"Well then, I guess I can't go with you now."

"Mike," she said, calming down slightly, "this is serious."

"Then give me a serious reason why I should go with you."

"Come on, Mike. What's the harm in coming?" she pleaded.

"What's the harm in staying?" he replied. Realizing that this was getting her nowhere fast, she grabbed Mike's wrist and pulled him out the door. "Hey!" was all he managed to shout before she had gotten him to the backyard. He finally managed to break free when they had entered the yard, where a two-foot round, green pipe stood. "What's that doing here?" Mike asked.

"That's our ride out of here." Rose replied, whom now tried pushing her cousin towards the pipe.

"Last time I checked, Rose, those things are illegal to people who don't have any kind of access rights."

"Stop whining and get into it!"

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

"I already told you I can't tell you."

"Then I'm staying here."

"Mike, you've got to understand," Rose pleaded desperately. "You've always wanted to do something with your life, to change the world. This is that chance, Mike. A chance to really do something wonderful. Please, just believe me and get into the pipe." Mike stood there looking at his cousin for a few long seconds. Then he turned and walked towards the pipe. Rose looked up and said, "Thanks, Mike."

"I'm only doing this to get you to leave me alone."

"Sure," Rose said, not believing him for a moment.

"Now, how do you use this thing?" Mike said when he got to the edge of the pipe. Rose smiled and gave him a hard shove. Mike fell into the pipe, yelling. Rose jumped up onto the lip and then jumped into the pipe herself.


	2. A Meeting of Heroes

Chapter 2: A Meeting of Heroes

"What was that for?" Mike demanded.

"I had to make sure you would come," Rose said. Mike looked around at where the pipe had taken them. They had landed in what looked like an old sewer system, with large areas for people to walk on. A river of sludge and muck slowly worked its way down the center of the area, in a channel designed to hold much more. "Good," Rose said, "The tide is down."

"What?" Mike asked. He looked at the walls and noticed a line of grime standing about up to his waist. The floor also had a thin coating of slime. "We're not in Kansas anymore," Mike commented.

"No time to take in the sights," Rose said, grabbing Mike's wrist, "It's time to go." She pulled him down the corridor and led him through a convoluted route of rights and lefts. Mike vainly tried to remember which way they had gone, but gave up after a while. Their romp through the sewers ended at another pipe, this one a blue one, and Rose stopped and looked around. "I'll go first," she said, "Just to make sure it's safe."

"Wait a minute," Mike started, "you're actually being cautious?" His face lost its usual cheerfulness. "This must be serious."

"More than you know, Mike, more than you know." Rose jumped up onto the pipe. "Give me ten seconds, okay?"

"Right," Mike said, smiling. Rose turned around and, before she could jump, Mike stepped up and gave her a hard shove. She gave out a short shout before falling in the pipe. He waited for the ten seconds, and then jumped in himself.

Rose landed with a hard thud on the stone floor at the other end of the pipe. _Why that little jerk. That was a dirty trick_, she thought. She stepped out of the way to avoid getting crushed by her cousin. Mike came out of the pipe and landed with little more that a stumble. He looked around and noticed that the room was filled with pipes of all colors and sizes. "You know, I ought to give you a piece of my mind," Rose said angrily.

"Are you sure you have any to spare?" Mike said jokingly.

"Just shut up and follow me," Rose said. She opened the door in the room and led Mike out. They went down a hallway, and at the end of it Rose put her hand on the doorknob, but didn't turn it. "Well, there's no turning back now, so I guess I can tell you now."

"I knew I would finally get an answer out of you. So, what's the big secret?"

"Mike, I'm a member of a special group. I'm a member of the rebel movement against Bowser."

"Right, and I'm Luke Skywalker."

"Can't you ever be serious once?"

"Me? You're the one who's never serious. I've had to smooth talk us out of 16 restricted areas, 42 cases of slandering a guard, and now I have one pipe incident on my list, but I'm sure that will be added to in due time."

"But I really am part of a rebellion!"

"Yeah, one against common sense."

"Mike, listen to me, Bowser is looking for us."

"What does he want us for?"

"Because we are descendants of Luigi and Daisy!"

"Right…" Mike said skeptically.

"Look, Mike. What's your favorite color?"

"Green."

"What are your favorite sports?"

"Soccer, tennis, and golf."

"Are you more a leader or a follower?"

"Mostly a follower, but that doesn't prove anything."

"Why do you think your parents don't mind you having a Nintendo system?"

"Rose, everyone in the area has one! Even the local guard has one!"

Rose grabbed at a piece of something around Mike's neck, pulled out his star-shaped pendant and said, "What about this?! It's a star! The symbol of the Mario Brothers!"

Mike grabbed his pendant and stuck it back down his shirt where he usually kept it. "Wouldn't that be a mushroom? Anyway, it was a gift from our grandfather on my 12th birthday. It's special, but not in the way you're talking about."

Rose sighed. "Whatever. Believe what you want to, but don't say I didn't tell you." She opened the door and walked in. Mike walked in, and what he saw in there amazed him. There was a table situated in the center of the large room, and a TV stood in the corner. There were chairs strewn all over the room, but those weren't what shocked him. It was the occupants of the room that had any impression on him. Two of them were normal enough. One was a short man who was sitting at the table, clad in overalls and a red T-shirt and cap. He looked up with a cold glare in his blue eyes, but when his eyes fell on Rose, the look softened. The other human, a woman who as standing next to the man, had long, golden hair and a pink T-shirt and a similarly colored pair of baggy shorts. Her eyes were the same color as the man's, but held much more warmth. Michael could handle these two, but panicked at the sight of the others. Standing at the other side of the table was a dark blue dinosaur, which Mike recognized as a Yoshi. Next to the Yoshi was short brown thing wearing a black cap backwards. Mike recognized right away as a Goomba. Next to the Goomba stood a Koopa Trooper with a light blue shell and a red scarf tied around her neck. Mike had seen all of these creatures before in the games he played, he had even talked to a Koopa Trooper guard on occasion. However, having all of them there, added to the all the other things he had gone through, made him feel dizzy, and he felt his knees weakening beneath him. "Guys, meet Mike, my cousin," Rose said. Mike waved weakly.

"Humph," the man snorted.

"Welcome, Mike," the woman said.

"So he's our newest member?" the Koopa asked.

"Yep," the Yoshi said in its high pitched voice.

"Are you all right? You look pale," the Goomba said. Mike couldn't take it any more, and he passed out. Rose caught him with a grunt. "A little help here, guys?" she asked. The Yoshi and Koopa moved over to help her carry Mike to a bed.


	3. Judgment Day

Chapter 3: Judgement Day

Chapter 3: Judgement Day

After Rose, accompanied by the Goomba, Koopa, and Yoshi, had left, the man commented, "Wow. Overall I must say that was really impressive."

"Give him a break, Leo. This is his first time in out world, remember," the woman retorted.

"Look, Peach," Leo said, "if we're going to have any chance of winning against Bowser and saving our parents, we can't afford to have some weak little kid getting in our way."

"Just because he fainted once doesn't make him weak. He's probably never seen a Yoshi, Goomba, or Koopa Trooper before in his entire life," Peach replied.

"No excuses," Leo said sternly.

"Hey, go easy on the kid, Leo," the Goomba said, walking into the room.

"Why should I? This is a war, Goombard, and we don't need some wussie kid screwing up all of our work," Leo replied.

"You've gotten so cold," the Yoshi said from behind Goombard.

"Cold, Yosh?" Leo asked.

"You're acting like Bowser does," the Koopa said.

"Bowser?" Leo asked with a mix of shock and anger.

"You're being really mean to the kid, and you're not giving him a second chance," the Koopa said. Leo just sat there with a stern expression on his face.

"Hey, guys," Rose called from Mike's side a few minutes later, "I think he's coming to." All of them except for Leo rushed into the room where Mike laid. Mike's eyelids fluttered open and his head rolled to look at Rose, the first person he noticed. He sat up, looking at her, and said, "Oh man, Rose, I must have hit my head coming out of the pipe." He pointed at Rose, "You were there," he said. His finger moved to point at Peach, "And you," he continued. He moved his finger to point at the three creatures in the room, and it started shaking. "And you…" he said weakly. He swooned and fell to the bed, unconscious again.

"I'm not sure whether to feel bad for him or to be insulted," the Koopa said

"Don't take it personally, Shelly," Rose replied. "This is all very new to him. I didn't have the best reaction when I met you guys the first time either, remember?"

"Geez, how could we forget?" Goombard said.

"Look, all of you should leave. Mike knows me. It would help if I was the only one he sees. I could try to calm him down and alleviate his fears," Rose said. The others nodded and filed out of the room. Rose sat down on the edge of the bed and looked over at her cousin. She sighed, regretting somewhat her decision to bring her here. "If I hadn't," she comforted herself, "Bowser would have captured him, and he wouldn't even know why. He'd end up hating his parents and me, because we never told him. This is all for the best." She sighed again and waited for Mike to wake up. In the other room the others arguing, as usual. It seemed to be Leo versus everyone else, also as usual. Rose listened for a few minutes, trying to make out what she could. A couple of minutes later, Mike groaned, and his eyes fluttered open. "Are you okay?" Rose asked.

"I think so. Man, Rose, I had the worst dream. It was a rip-off of The Wizard of Oz. There were Yoshis and Goombas and Koopa Troopers…" Mike said.

"Oh, my," Rose said, grinning.

Mike groaned. "I think I'm starting to wear off on you."

"Look, Mike, there's something I need to tell you. That wasn't a dream. It was real."

"Oh," Mike said sheepishly. "I didn't make a good impression, did I?"

"No, not really. I'm gonna introduce you to the others. I'd appreciate it if you didn't faint this time."

"I'll try."

"Uh-uh," Rose said, waving her finger, "'Do or do not. There is no try.' Right?" Rose said, grinning.

"I knew that Star Wars comment would come back to haunt me."

"Come on. Let's go," Rose said. Mike got up out of the bed and followed Rose back to the main room. Rose opened the door and stepped into the room. Mike took a deep breath, braced himself, and followed. The five assembled in the room stopped their argument and turned to look at the two people that entered. "Guys," Rose started, "this is Mike, my cousin."

"Yeah, we know," Leo said.

"Mike, meet Leo," Rose said, motioning towards the man. Mike offered his hand in greeting, but Leo just turned away. "Peach the Third," Rose said, indicating the woman. Mike knelt in front of Peach and kissed the back of her hand. "You don't need to do that," she said, a little flustered.

"Oh, sorry," Mike said, standing back up and grinning sheepishly.

"The short guy is Goombard," Rose said.

"Hey! I prefer the term 'vertically challenged'," Goombard shouted.

"Awfully short tempered, isn't he?" Mike asked.

"Mike…" Rose rebuked.

"Sorry. I just couldn't help myself. Sometimes my mouth works faster than my brain."

"Don't worry about it, I'm used to it," Goombard said.

"The blue dino over there is Yosh," Rose interrupted.

Mike shook Yosh's hand and said, "Yosh? Is that a shortening of Yoshua?"

"Why, yes it is, Mike," Yosh said evenly.

The grin slid off Mike's face, and the only comment he had was, "Oh."

"And this is Shelly," Rose said.

"Hello," Mike said to the Koopa.

"What? No joke about my name?" she asked.

"Nah, it's just too easy," Mike responded, grinning. "By the way," he added, "do you know another koopa named Karl?"

"No…" Shelly replied slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"He's the local guard for my area."

"Local guard?"

"Yeah. They're there to make sure that everyone is being a good little citizen of King Bowser, which means no Nintendo and no bad-mouthing Bowser, whether it's true or not," Mike explained.

"So they're bad guys?" Goombard asked.

"Yes and no. Karl is an example of one of the good ones."

"There's no such thing as a good guy that works for Bowser," Leo scoffed.

"You know, Leo, some people are being forced to work for Bowser. Some are being blackmailed," Mike pointed out.

"Enough pleasantries," Leo said, ignoring Mike's last comment, "Rose, why did you even bring him here?"

"Well, he's probably smarter than everyone else here, he's a quick thinker, and besides, he is a descendant of Luigi and Daisy, like me."

"Except that you are useful, while he hasn't proven himself to be."

"Look, it's late. Let's get some sleep, and we can continue this discussion tomorrow," Peach said, trying to keep Rose and Leo out what could be a violent argument.

"Fine," Rose said angrily. She didn't like it when people judged Mike as a class clown, just because he made a few jokes. He was actually very serious, more so than she was. He just knew when whether it was better to be funny or serious. "Mike, you can sleep in the room we put you in before." Mike nodded and walked away, leaving Rose to her thoughts.


	4. Revelations

Chapter 4: Revelations

Chapter 4: Revelations

Mike cracked his door a bit and looked out for the others. He saw nobody, and he sneaked out his door and headed down the hallway. He quietly opened the door to the pipe room, entered the room, and closed the door behind himself. _Now which pipe was it?_ he asked himself. Unbeknownst to him, Rose saw him walk down the hallway. She stealthily tiptoed down the hall and put her hand on the doorknob. Mike heard the doorknob turn, and he plastered himself against the wall, ready to nail whoever came through the door. The door opened and Mike brought both of his fists down in one single ball. Rose saw the blow coming and used the force of the attack to throw Mike into the wall. "Ouch," he said wearily, with his legs going up the wall and his back flat against the floor.

"Oops. Sorry, knee-jerk reaction," Rose said.

"I never could get the jump on you, could I?"

"Nope. But…"

Mike stood up and asked, "What?"

"Why are you here?"

"People have always asked why we are here, Rose, but no one, not even I, knows the answer."

"No, Mike," Rose said, annoyed. "Why are you here in the pipe room?"

"I'm leaving," Mike replied shortly.

"Leaving?! Why?"

"Because there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home," Mike joked.

"You're really pushing the Wizard of Oz, aren't you? But seriously, why are you leaving?"

"I don't belong here."

"Don't belong here! But…But…You're Luigi's grandson!!"

"First, I still don't believe that. Second, that Leo character has it in for me."

"Oh come on, Mike! Leo may be stern, but that's a bit much."

"Rose, I'm a pretty good judge of character. He hates me with the whole essence of his being." He paused, then continued. "Okay, maybe not that much, but I'm not far off."

"I know why he dislikes you. See, he dislikes Luigi, and since your Luigi's grandson…"

"GOD, ROSE, I'M NOT LUIGI'S FREAKIN' GRANDSON!!! I STILL DON'T BELIEVE YOU, SO JUST DROP IT, okay?" Mike yelled. He didn't want to, but Rose just didn't know when to quit.

"Either way, Mike, Bowser wants you, dead or alive."

"So far, you're the only one who's told me that. Considering our track record together, I take everything you say with a few really large grains of salt."

"So, you do hate me…" Rose said dejectedly.

Mike put his hands on Rose's shoulders and said, "No, Rose. It's just that I don't believe you when you make outrageous claims like this. I don't hate you at all."

"Thank you, Mike. But you still can't go."

"Watch me," Mike said. Mike turned back to the assortment of pipes and tried to remember which one led to the sewer.

"Mike, if you leave, you'll be turning your back on the real world, and you'll just go back into your own little bubble world, where nothing bad ever happens."

"No, Rose, bad things do happen," Mike said quietly. He continued louder, "If Luigi is so important, then why don't you go get him yourself?"

"So, you do admit that he's your grandfather."

"No, I just asked why you just didn't go and get him yourself."

"Well, since I just went from foster house to foster house, I never knew where he was. Where is he?"

"Oh, it's a very nice spot, just down the road from my house, good shade, right next to a tree, nice white stone. I bring him flowers every month."

"Wha? What are you talking about?"

"He's dead, Rose. Our grandfather is dead!" Mike said, tears starting to gather in the corners of his eyes. "That's why this is special to me," he continued, taking out his pendant. "He died the day after he gave me this. Some punks trapped him in an alley and demanded his wallet. He refused and the gang started beating him up for it. He died a few hours later, at the hospital. Grandma died a few days later, from a broken heart." He sniffed and did his best to hold back the onrushing tears.

"I'm sorry, Mike. I never knew," Rose said softly.

"What? We had asked the foster service to tell you!"

"Mike, it happened right after your 12th birthday, right? The people I was staying with didn't care about me, only about the tax break they got. They never would have told me."

Mike clenched his fists and said, "I knew I should have told you in person…" He unclenched his fists and sighed. "Sorry, Rose."

"It's not your fault."

"Either way, I'm still going."

"Mike, please. Don't."

"I'm sorry, Rose. I don't want to get caught up in some war and die because of it. If I were you, I'd leave too, before it's too late." Mike turned and headed over to the pipe he thought brought them here. "See ya'," he said.

"Mike, wait!" Rose started, but Mike had already jumped in. "That's not the right pipe…" she finished dejectedly. She muttered something under her breath and ran off to get the others.

Mike was flying through the pipe with thoughts of regret and sadness going through his mind. He felt bad about leaving Rose behind, but she would come along eventually. He noticed a light at the end of pipe. _That's strange_, he thought, _I should be going up, if I remember the orientation of the pipe correctly. Uh-oh._ He then came flying out of the pipe and ran smack into a wall. He fell on a pile of garbage in the alleyway he emerged in, unconscious.


	5. A First Hand Look

Chapter 5: A First-Hand Look

Chapter 5: A First-Hand Look

A small glowing object picked it way among the garbage in the alleyway, wondering where it was. Hearing some sort of noise, the glow moved towards the pile of junk from where it emanated. As it moved closer, the sound grew louder. Suddenly, something shot out of the pile, and the glow hid behind a garbage can that stuck out of the debris. Mike took a few thankful gasps of air and wiped the grime out of his eyes. "Man," he commented to no one in particular, "that's three times I've been out in the last 24 hours! You'd think I'm starting to like it." He looked around and noticed something sticking to his shoulder. He brushed it off, saying, "That better be a candy bar." Mike checked his watch, which read 1:43 P.M. "Man," he said, "I've been out for almost twelve hours! I better find my stuff." He started rooting through the garbage, looking for his things. The glow inched closer to Mike, wanting a better look at this newcomer. Mike kept digging, oblivious to the stranger approaching him. "Ah-ha! Here it is!" Mike said, finding his duffel bag. He wiped off his face with an old rag he found. He got up and turned around to leave when he found himself face-to-face with a glowing, floating light bulb. "AHHH!" they both screamed, and they backed away from each other. The bulb dove back behind the trashcan, and Mike stumbled back a few steps and tripped over a metal pole. "Oww…" Mike moaned, rubbing where he had hit his head. "At least I didn't pass out this time." Feeling bad, the bulb floated over to Mike. "I'm sorry, mister, I really am," it replied in a childish voice.

"Don't worry about it," Mike replied, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"I've just never seen a human up-close before. I'm really sorry, mister," the bulb continued.

"Well, I've never seen a talking, floating light bulb before, so the surprise is mutual."

"That's good, mister. I hoped you weren't mad at me."

"Mad? Why would I be mad? By the way, what's your name?"

"My name's Joules."

"Joules? I guess that makes sense. Hmm, I wonder…" Mike mused.

"What's your name?" Joules asked, interrupting Mike's thought.

"Me? My name's Mike. I'd shake your hand, but that might be a problem."

Joules laughed. "You're funny," he said.

"At least someone from this world appreciates my humor."

"You mean… You're from Earth?" Joules asked in astonishment.

"Yep. Born and bred."

"Wow. Not only do I meet a human for the first time, but he's also from Earth! Wait until Mom hears about this!" Jules exclaimed.

"Your mom? What's her name?"

"My mom? Her name is Watt."

"Watt?! THE Watt!?" Mike asked excitedly.

"Yep," Joules said, literally glowing with pride, "The Watt that helped Mario beat Bowser when he stole the Star Rod!!"

"Quiet, kid. In this place, that isn't something to yell about."

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

"Don't worry, just keep it down. Where is your mom, anyway?" Mike asked.

"Oh, she's at home."

"Home? Wouldn't Bowser want to capture her because she helped Mario?"

"Oh no, she's too smart. She just says that she was young and impressionable, and Mario had a bad influence on her," Joules said, glowing again.

"Very clever," Mike said, impressed. "Well, I guess we need to get you home, right?"

"But I don't know how to get home from here. I'm lost," Joules said sadly.

"That makes two of us." Mike turned and started walking out of the alley. "We might as well get going anyway. Maybe someone knows how to get you to your home."

Joules flew in front of him and said, "Wait! You can't go out there! We don't get humans in this area that often. Any patrol would pick you up for sure."

"Good point. I guess a disguise is in order then. We should be able to make something out of the stuff here," Mike said, motioning to the piles of garbage. The two of them started rooting around the stacks of junk, looking for anything that may be of use. Finally, Mike stumbled across an old snow saucer. "Bingo!" he exclaimed. Joules moved in for a look at what Mike was making. Mike took an old piece of rope and tied the two handles on the saucer together, so it made a semicircle around Mike's duffel bag. Mike took the duffel and placed it on his back. He cinched the strap so the bag fit sung against his back. He then took his plastic poncho out and draped it over his shoulders and the rest of his body. "How do I look?" he asked Joules.

"Kinda like a koopa, but something's wrong…" he replied.

"Ah. I know," Mike said. He hunched his shoulders and slouched. He also put the hood of the poncho over his head, hiding most of it. "Good thing Mom got this two sizes too big," Mike commented.

"Now that's a decent costume," Joules said.

"Let's go," Mike said, and they walked out onto the street. "Man, what a dump," he said.

"It all happened after Bowser took over," Joules said.

"How was Bowser able to take over? Did Mario and Luigi finally get beaten?"

"Mario and Luigi never were beaten, but Luigi left, and Mario couldn't handle the onslaught that ensued," Joules replied sadly.

"Well, why did Luigi leave?" Mike asked, starting to walk down the street. Mike took a few steps, looked up and did a double take. Up above the line the roofs of the buildings on the opposite street made, there was probably the tallest, most intimidating structure Mike had ever seen. "Is that Bowser's Keep?" Mike whispered.

"No, that's the castle of Lady Bow, who rules over the slum area," Joules answered from Mike's shoulder.

"Lady Bow? Didn't she…" Mike started.

"Yes, she was with Mario and my mom."

"Then, why? How?"

"She swapped sides. She was the one that tricked Luigi and Daisy into leaving the Mushroom Kingdom. Bow sent Luigi letters from Daisy and letters from Daisy to Luigi," Joules explained.

"Thus playing the two from the middle, like a puppeteer on the strings," Mike commented to himself.

"After Luigi left, Mario was heartbroken. They had always been together, through good times and bad."

"Not if you played the games," Mike interrupted.

"Games?" Joules asked.

"I've heard that after Luigi and Daisy left, the pipe they took lead them to Japan, where they met Shigeru Miyamoto."

"Who?"

"Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind many of the most famous video game characters ever, like Fox McCloud, Link, and the Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi."

"Nintendo? Weren't they shut down?"

"More like totally eliminated," Mike said, tracing a line across his neck with his finger. "Well, moving on, Miyamoto was having problems coming up with a hero for his new game when he met Luigi. Luigi told him about his brother and all of his adventures. Miyamoto thanked him for all the great ideas, and Nintendo started giving Luigi and Daisy the royalties from all the games they ever sold."

"Royalties?" Joules asked.

"A small bit of the money made from each game sale went to Luigi and Daisy. Luigi and Daisy changed their names and settled somewhere in southern New York State, to avoid attention. They saved up their money, and people say that their family was always well off, but no one knew which family it was."

"Was my mommy in a game?" Joules asked.

"Yep. It was called 'Paper Mario', because all the people were flat, like paper."

"Was she good?"

"Oh yeah. Probably the best sidekick to have, especially against Bowser."

"Really?" Joules said, glowing strongly.

"Definitely."

"But…" Joules started.

"Yes?"

"I thought Nintendo stuff was outlawed. How did you get the game?"

"There's a group of people called Game Runners. They travel around, buying and selling games. The games are expensive, but they risk their life everyday, so I really don't mind."

"Your parents must be really nice, if they let you have that stuff." Mike lowered his head and grew very reflective. _My parents… I hope their okay. If Bowser is after me, then he's probably after them, too, _Mike thought to himself._ Was Rose telling the truth?_, he continued, _Am I really the grandson of Luigi? All the points she brought up, while on their own they were circumstantial, but together they do make sense and show a bigger picture._

"Are you okay, Mike? Did I say something wrong?" Joules asked, concerned.

"Hunh? No, no. I'm just thinking about some things that someone told me. Come on let's go," Mike answered.


	6. Confrontation

Chapter 6: Confrontation

Chapter 6: Confrontation

Mike and Joules quickly jumped into an alleyway as a green and white dirt bike roared past. "That's the third time they've gone past us!" Mike said. "I hope they're not onto me." After checking for anything else out of the ordinary, Mike and Joules resumed their previous course along the sidewalk. "Putting a ghost in charge of the most run-down, gloomy areas of the city. Ingenious," Mike commented.

"Mike?" Joules asked, hovering near Mike's shoulder.

"Yeah, Joules?"

"What's Earth like?"

"Well, it really depends on where you look. In places where Bowser met little or no opposition, the area is left just as it was. There are pristine mountains, beautiful forests, and peaceful rivers. Where people fought Bowser tooth and nail, the area was left in ruins, kinda like this place."

"I had really hoped to see it someday, but I doubt I ever will," Joules said with a hint of regret.

"Oh, don't worry. I've got the feeling that Bowser will be going down soon, and then our two worlds will be able to get together. Believe me, it will happen," Mike said, trying to comfort Joules. Mike gagged internally on the cornyness of that statement. _That had to be the most melodramatic thing I've ever said_, he thought.

"Stop right there," a commanding voice said from behind them. Mike and Joules stopped dead in their tracks. "Turn around," the voice continued. "Crap," Mike muttered and complied with the voice, which turned out to belong to a stern looking Hammer Brother. Joules darted behind Mike, hiding from the guard. "Take off that silly disguise, human," he said, with a disgusted emphasis on the word "human". Mike took off the poncho and his duffel bag, tossed them against a building, and drew up to his full height, which put him over a foot taller than the guard. Passer-byes were shocked to see a human in the middle of the slums, but most just went along their way, not wanting to get involved. The guard seemed unfazed, however, and called someone on his radio. "Miss, I've found him," he said to the person on the other end. "Understood. We are on Mushroom Lane, in between Flower and Vine. I'll hold him here." Mike thought about making a break for it, but decided against it when he saw the dexterity shown by the guard in handling a hammer in his free hand. Instead, he inched towards his bag, hoping to get his staff so he had something to work with. As he tried, a hammer landed with a loud metallic thud right next to Mike's foot. "Don't even think about it," the guard snarled.

"Joules," he whispered, "you should go. He wants me, not you."

"No, I'm staying here with you," Joules said from his hiding place.

"Joules, don't be stupid. There's no reason for you to get involved in this," Mike shot back in a harsh whisper.

"Who are you talking to?" the Hammer Bros. asked.

"I'm not talking to anyone," Mike said in an innocent voice.

"Come on. I heard some one else there."

"Don't lie to the guard! Tell the truth!" Mike yelled at himself in a harsh tone.

"Oh, don't yell at me. I don't like it when you yell," Mike said in the innocent voice.

"Excuse me, sir," Mike said in a calm, smooth voice. "Don't mind these other two. We've been schizophrenic for a while now. It seems that the therapist didn't help us much."

The guard had a completely stunned expression on his face. Absentmindedly, he brought his radio up to his face and said, "Could you hurry, please? He's starting to act strangely. Suggest prepping the padded cell." Mike continued arguing with himself until two hovercars raced overhead, double backed, and landed. Out of the first car came a dozen koopa troopers. Half of them chased away the building crowd, and the other six trained guns on Mike, who put his hands up in the air. A solitary ghost cam out of the other car who Mike thought he recognized. _Bootler?_ he thought. The ghost, whoever it was, opened the door towards the rear of the second car. Out floated a blue ghost with a red bow that Mike definitely recognized. "Well, well. If it isn't Bow. What gets you out of your humble abode?" Mike said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"You may address her as 'Lady Bow', young man," Bootler said, dutifully tagging along with Bow.

"There are a few other things I'd like to address her as," Mike retorted.

"Enough," Bow said. "I assume you know why you're being taken captive."

Smirking, Mike said with a childish expression, "No, Bow. I don't know."

"THAT'S 'LADY BOW'," Bow said assertively. She calmed down and said, "Well, since you don't know… Bowser had put a price on your head."

"Is that so? It just goes to show…" Mike said, keeping up the earlier rhyme and getting small grins from some of the guards.

Bow started circling Mike. She said, "And do you know why? Well, it's because of… Joules!?"

Mike turned to Joules and asked in mock anger, "Joules! Did you tell them I was here?"

"But… but… What's he doing here?" Bow stammered.

"I'm here with Mike," Joules said firmly.

"Following in the footsteps of your mother, eh?" Bow asked slyly.

"Leave him alone, you turncoat," Mike said.

"What did you call me?" Bow said, furious.

"A turncoat. You know, someone who swaps sides, a defector, a traitor."

"Why you little…"

"Oh my, I may have made her angry," he said to Joules in a mocking tone.

"THAT'S IT!!!" Bow yelled. She took out her fan and swung it at Mike. Mike took a step back and dodged the swipe. Bow attacked again, three times in succession. Mike easily dodged the three blows by hopping backward. Unfortunately, this jumping had put him with his back to the wall. "HAHA!! I've got you now!" Bow shouted triumphantly. She took a horizontal swing at Mike's neck, intent on snapping it. Mike noticed his bag at his feet. He quickly ducked down to avoid the blow, grabbed his staff, and stabbed it at Bow, hitting her right in the nose. She backed up, clutching her nose. "Guards!" she yelled, "Get him!" The koopas responded by bringing their guns to bare. "No, you morons! We need him alive!" Bow shouted. The koopas moved in to try to incapacate Mike. Suddenly, some of Rose's fighting tips came back to Mike. _Don't just swing wildly, plan your attacks. Watch your back, but don't get forced into a wall. Stay calm, don't freak out_, they said. Mike looked at the koopa nearest to him. Mike shot out his staff, catching the turtle right between the head and neck. One koopa rushed him, swinging for his head. Mike sidestepped and hit the guard in the back. The hit, added to the koopa's current speed, sent him flying into the wall. Mike hit the next koopa over the head, which sent him hiding into his shell. Mike smiled and kicked the shell. It ricocheted into two other guards. "Five down, one to go," Mike quipped. The last koopa, seemingly the smartest, held his gun by the barrel and looked to use it like a club. The koopa tried an overhead swing which, given the different heights of Mike and the guard, was aimed at Mike's chest. Mike held his staff up, and the two weapons locked together. They stayed like that for a while, each one trying to get the upper hand. Finally, a sharp crack was heard, and Mike's staff broke in two. The gun fell through the split in the wood and scored a decent hit on Mike's sternum. Mike took a few steps back and dropped to one knee, recovering from the hit. He then took the longer of the two broken staff pieces and wielded it like a sword. The guard rushed him, hoping to get in another hit while Mike was recovering. Mike saw him coming and thrust the staff end out. The guard ran straight into the blunt end and fell down, the wind knocked out of him. Mike slowly got to his feet, breathing heavily. Seeing this, the Hammer Brother thought it was a good time for a sneak attack. Joules, who had stayed away from the fighting, saw him ready two hammers, intent on knocking out Mike. "Look out, Mike!" Joules shouted, rushing to help. Mike started to turn around at what seemed to be a painfully slow pace. Joules flew at the Hammer Brother, sparks shooting out from his small body. He hit the Hammer Brother in the chest head on. Electricity coursed through the turtle's body, and he fell to the ground, paralyzed. Joules also fell, exhausted. Mike caught him and said, "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," Joules replied weakly. Mike turned and surveyed the situation. Bow had called the other six guards in to take care of Mike. "The phrase 'A snowball's chance in hell' springs to mind," Mike commented. He sighed. "I can't fight them with Joules in one hand. Not that it makes a difference, considering how tired I am," he continued to himself. The guards were advancing, all of their guns held like clubs. Mike's hopes sunk to the soles of his shoes. He slowly backed away until he hit the wall. He looked around, hoping for some means of escape. Suddenly, a familiar sound roared to life. The dirt bike that had been following Mike screamed into view. The driver drove straight at the line of koopas. They all turned to face this new threat. The driver held out an arm and clotheslined the koopas. The bike turned and skidded to a stop in front of Mike. The rider took off her goggles, and Mike's jaw dropped. "Rose?" he exclaimed.

"For once I have to bail you out of trouble," she said grinning. "Who's the little guy?"

"I'll explain later." Mike got onto the bike and took the extra helmet Rose handed him. He cradled Joules in one arm and wrapped the other around Rose's stomach. Rose let out the clutch and zoomed away from the scene. Faintly Mike could hear Bow yelling, "I'll get you my pretty, and your little light bulb too!" Mike sighed.

"You just had to make those Wizard of Oz jokes, didn't you?" Rose asked.

"Let's just go," Mike said.


	7. The First Mission

Chapter 7: The First Mission

Chapter 7: The First Mission

Mike was sitting in the rec room telling his story to the collected group of Rose, Shelly, Goombard, and Yosh. Leo was sitting at the table, pouring over many different maps and blueprints. Peach was looking in on Joules, who was lying down in the guestroom Mike had slept in before. "So the guard hears Joules talking," Mike was explaining, "and in order to cover for him so he could get away, I start acting schizophrenic."

"And the Hammer Brother bought that?" Shelly asked.

"Hook, like, and sinker," Mike said. "It just proves my favorite saying: When all else fails, do something weird."

"I thought it was 'When all else fails, run like hell.'," Rose said. Leo snorted at this comment.

"Well, that too," Mike said sheepishly. Just then, Peach walked in the room. "How's Joules?" Mike asked.

"He'll be fine," she replied. "He's just tired. Some sleep will do him a lot of good." There was an awkward silence where nobody could think of anything to say.

Mike was the first to break the silence. "Well, Joules is the son of Watt, Rose and I are the grandchildren of Luigi and Daisy, and you and Leo are grandchildren of Mario and Peach, right?" he asked.

"That's correct," Peach answered. "Leo and I are brother and sister. Our father came here in the same fashion Mario and Luigi first did."

"Okay. And what about you three?" Mike asked Shelly, Goombard, and Yosh.

"Well, I'm the granddaughter of Kooper, who was with Mario and Watt," Shelly replied. "This scarf is his."

"I'm the grandson of Goombario," Goombard chimed.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you… Why did your parents name you Goombard?" Mike asked.

"They wanted me to grow up to be a great singer. Do you want an example of my singing?"

"No, Goombard, that's okay. We don't need you to sing," Rose said quickly.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Positive," Shelly said.

"Well, what about you, Yosh?" Mike asked.

Yosh looked a little flustered. "I've been friends with Leo and Peach since we were kids," he answered, evading the question. Mike was about to ask another question when there was a ringing sound. "I'll get it," Yosh said, jumping up and running out the room.

"Not much of a secret hideout, is it?" Mike commented.

"There are people living in the slums who give us info sometimes, ya' know," Rose retorted.

Yosh walked back into the room and said, "It's for you, Mike." He handed Mike an envelope.

"Who would know I'm here?" Mike asked no one in particular.

"Nobody was out there. The envelope was just sitting on the front step," Yosh explained. Mike took the envelope and opened it. He started reading the letter silently to himself while Rose moved over and started reading over his shoulder. Finally, he put the letter down and exhaled. "Well, that's a relief," he said. "This letter is from my parents. They know I'm with you guys, and they've gone into hiding in order to get away from Bowser."

"Typical. Leave it to a child of Luigi's to run away," Leo said disdainfully.

"What is your problem anyway?" Mike yelled, standing up. Leo also stood up and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Well, what are your parents doing?" Mike asked, highly annoyed.

"Mike," Rose said, grabbing his arm.

"No, Rose. It's okay," Peach said softly. "Mike, sit down. I'll tell you." Mike sat back down where he was before, and Leo sat down at the table. "At first, when Bowser had taken over, our mother and grandmother, Peach the 1st and 2nd, hid too, at a secret location," Peach started.

"Which was a stupid move," Leo grumbled. "If she had taken a stand and had taken all of her forces and threw them at Bowser, before he gained all this power, he would have been beaten."

"Wait a minute," Mike interjected. "This happened right after Bowser had beaten Mario, right?" There was a moment of silence for the fallen hero. "Peach's forces were probably so disheartened at the defeat of Mario that none of them would have wanted to fight. You can't send troops into battle with low morale. It would have been a slaughter. Basic tactics, Leo." Leo glared at Mike, but then turned back to his papers. Mike smiled inwardly, happy to have won that small battle.

"Our mother was whisked off to a secret hiding location in the islands for safe keeping. Our father joined her after he was found during a small raid of one of Bowser's warehouses. Later, they had us, and all was going well, until one mission that went bad real quickly. They were betrayed by someone who wanted out of the rebellion. Now, they're held in one of Bowser's maximum-security prisons. We don't where they are…" Peach said, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Oh, geez… I'm sorry. I truly am," Mike said, trying to comfort Peach.

There was a pause before Leo said, "Mike, come over here."

Mike walked over and said, "What's up?"

"Rose tells me that you're quite the leader."

"Really?" Mike asked, glancing over at Rose.

"And because of that, I'm giving you your first mission, as the leader."

"Okay… What's the mission?"

Leo pulled out some papers and started pointing out different areas. "You will be leading Yosh, Shelly, and Goombard on a mission to destroy this factory. It's located…"

"Close to my house," Mike cut in. "See, it's right there." He pointed to one rectangle in particular. "But why are you choosing the group for me? If I'm the leader, shouldn't I pick the group?"

"The bomb that you will be using was built by Goombard and Shelly, so they need to go. Yosh was going to lead this mission, but since your such a good leader, I gave it to you," Leo answered, ending in sarcasm.

Mike glanced over at Yosh and was about to say something, but Yosh cut him off and said, "Hey, don't worry about it. You know the territory better." Mike nodded and turned back to Leo.

"You'll be leaving at 1800 hours tomorrow. You'll check in to the hotel at 1830. You leave the hotel at 0900. You infiltrate the factory at 0930. The factory blows up at 1015. You got that?" Leo asked.

"Understood," Mike said, throwing Leo his best salute. "Now, if you don't mind, it's getting late. I'm gonna go check on Joules and then go to bed."

"I think I'll hit the hay too," Rose said, standing up. Mike walked out the double doors of the rec room and turned to go into the guest room where he has slept before, and where Joules was now. He walked through the open door and sat down on the edge of the bed. Joules was awake, but still looked tired. "Hey, little guy, how are you doing?" Mike asked.

"I'm okay, but I'm still really tired," he replied. "Where am I?"

"Umm…" Mike said, biting his lip. _How do I put this?_ he asked himself. He decided that telling him the truth would be best. "You're in the headquarters of the rebellion led by Leo, grandson of Mario."

"Oh," Joules said. Apparently, Mike's last statement didn't sink in. Joules' eyes closed, and he drifted back off into sleep. Mike walked out of the room and down the hallway. As he passed the rec room, he heard some heated discussion. Suddenly, all the talking stopped, and Mike heard footsteps heading towards the double doors. He took this as his cue to leave. He took a few long strides down the hall and then slowed his pace to make it look like he hadn't heard anything. Leo opened the door and looked down the hallway. Mike felt his gaze upon him like the laser sight of a gun. Luckily, Rose's room was right there. He knocked on the door, and then quickly slipped in. He was sharing this room with Rose because Joules was using the guestroom. "Hey, Mike," she said, "How's Joules?"

"He's okay, just out of it," Mike replied.

"That's good."

After a pause, Mike asked, "Rose, what do you think your doing?"

"What are you talking about, Mike?"

"I'm not a leader Rose!"

"But you're so good at leading…"

"That's in everyday life! That's completely different than a bunch of rebels with a bomb!"

"But…"

"Even so, I don't like leading. I may be good at it when I need to be, but I don't want to."

"I'm sorry, Mike…" Rose said softly.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make it work," Mike said, all of his anger draining out of him. On a lighter note, he added, "So, how bad is Goombard's singing, anyway?"

Rose smiled and replied, "He makes Yoko Ono sound like an angel."

"Ouch. That's harsh."

"It's also true." They both laughed a bit. "Mike?"

"Yeah?" Mike asked. He could guess what was coming next, but he hoped that question wouldn't come up.

"Why didn't your parents adopt me?" Rose asked.

Mike sighed. This was the question he had feared. This question always came up whenever they were together. Rose saw it as some kind of tradition and didn't mean it to cause any kind of trouble, but Mike always got annoyed that he couldn't come up with a good answer. Well, every time except this time. "I think I can answer that this time," he said.

"Really?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. It's apparent that my parents knew about our grandparents. They must have figured that keeping us apart would hamper Bowser's efforts to capture us."

"I figured it was something like that, once I knew about Luigi and Daisy," Rose said. "I just wanted to hear you say that."

"You shouldn't be afraid to be wrong, Rose."

Rose looked hurt. "Me? _Afraid?_ Yeah right," she said, smiling slightly.

"Whatever," Mike replied. With that, they went to sleep.


	8. The Best Laid Plans of Yoshis and Men

Chapter 8: The Best-Laid Plans of Yoshis and Men

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0930 hours – Time till departure: 8:30

Shelly was standing behind a workbench in the basement of their headquarters, which were affectionately called "The Lair." Goombard was standing atop the workbench, helping Shelly explain to Mike and Yosh the way they were going to destroy the factory. "This," Shelly said lifting up a cylinder the size of a two-liter soda bottle, "is our explosive." She started to point things out as she talked. "This is the digital readout for the timer. The default is five minutes. Here is the code pad. This is where you can enter the override code or set the timer."

"Is there any other way?" Mike asked.

"To disarm the bomb? Well… There is the old reliable method of cutting the wires," Goombard answered.

"I meant to take out the factory," Mike said. The three others exchanged glances.

"You're new to this, aren't you?" Yosh asked.

"To killing innocent people? Yes, most definitely," Mike replied.

"Look, Mike. These people are working for Bowser," Yosh said. "Ya' know, Bowser. The one who's been oppressing both our worlds for over half a century. The one who remorselessly demolished any force that opposed. The one who robbed you and rose of your heritage."

"There is no reason that justifies what you're about to do," Mike said darkly. He glanced over for support, but Shelly was tinkering with another cylinder and Goombard had jumped down from the workbench and was looking through a bin of spare parts. He turned back to Yosh. "You speak of Bowser being an oppressor. Well, guess what? When people are oppressed, they usually lose everything. Most of the people working at that factory have no other choice."

"They should have known better," Yosh said coldly. Shelly and Goombard both turned to stare at him. _He's starting to sound like Leo_, Shelly thought.

"KNOWN BETTER?!?! KNOWN BETTER?!?! JESUS H. CHRIST!!!!" Mike yelled. He flailed his arms and made exasperated noises. Finally, he calmed down and sulked out of the room, muttering about how stupid it all was. He was so agitated, he didn't even notice Leo standing right outside the door. Leo quickly stepped to one side to let the brooding teen through. He stood there staring at Mike as he walked up the steps. Yosh stepped up next to him after being coaxed by Shelly to go after Mike. "This isn't gonna be easy," he commented to Leo.

"Yes. But it will all be worth it if we can pull it off," Leo said in a somber tone.

Yosh sighed. "I kinda feel bad about using them all like this, though."

"Don't worry. After I complete the deal, it'll be easy to get them all back."

Yosh turned to Leo, a concerned look on his face, "Are you sure that you can trust him?"

Leo met Yosh's stare and replied, "Don't worry. Everything will fall right into place."

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1230 hours – Time till departure: 5:30

Mike lay on his bed, mindlessly chewing on a turkey sandwich Rose left him. He sighed. _How did I get myself into this mess?_ he thought. He took another bite of his turkey sandwich. _Leo's got to be a moron if he expects me to blow up that building. _He paused and then started humming to himself, singing the words in his head. _That's me in the corner. That's me in the spot-light, losing my religion._ He sighed again. _I don't even know why I'm here._ Mike dwelled on this thought for a moment, turned it over in his mind. _No, I do know why I'm here_, he thought. _I'm here because Rose believed in me, still believes in me. Even if I wasn't Luigi's grandson, she still would have believed in me. I've got to do this, if not for the others, then for her. I told her I'd make it work. I'll take out the factory._ He sat up and said to himself, "But I'll do it my way." He was startled when the door opened. "Rose!" he yelped, "don't do that!"

"Sorry," Rose said, half-grinning. She looked at the half-eaten sandwich in Mike's hand. "You still haven't finished that? It's been over half an hour."

Mike looked down at the sandwich and then back up at Rose with a goofy grin on his face. "Hehe…" He put the sandwich back on the plate.

"Feeling better?" Rose asked.

"Somewhat."

"Need anything else?"

"Maybe."

"Like what?"

"Something."

Rose groaned. "I think you're doing much better."

"Perhaps. Can I ask you something?"

Rose sat down on her bed across from Mike. "Shoot."

"How long have you been with these guys?"

"Umm… Around nine months."

"That long? Well, what have you've been doing all this time?"

"Only supply raids and information gathering missions. Also, we have rescued defectors and hostages."

"Hmm…" Mike commented.

"What is it?"

"Leo and Yosh are the leaders of this outfit, right?

"Yeah…" Rose said, wondering where Mike was going with this train of thought.

"Well, doesn't it seem weird that those two go from valiantly saving others to cold and remorseless killing?"

"I guess… Leo had only come up with this idea a week ago."

"Hmm…" Mike commented again. "When did you tell them about me?"

Realization slowly dawned on Rose's face. "A little over a week ago… You don't think…"

"I'm not sure. It may be a coincidence. This may be a test set up by Leo to see how good I really am." _Or a trap,_ he thought.

"Yeah, that's got to be it. I mean, what would Leo have to gain?" Rose asked flustered.

"You're probably right. Nothing to be worried about," Mike said cheerfully. Rose looked relieved and walked out the door. Watching her go, he thought, _She knows something's wrong as much as I do_. Coming back to his original concern, he thought,_ But what would Leo and Yosh have to gain? And from whom?_

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1730 hours – Time to departure 0:30

Everyone was sitting around the table in the kitchen, save for Rose. Yosh had a casual air about him as he discussed the mission plan with Leo. Peach seemed nervous about something as she warily eyed Leo. _There's something different about him tonight. I wonder what it could be?_ she thought. Shelly and Goombard ate in silence. What Mike had said earlier had rattled them both. Mike's attention was focused on some point off in distant space. This was apparent thought his repeated attempts to put his dinner in his mouth through is cheek. "Are you okay Mike?" Shelly asked. Mike didn't respond. "Hello? Mike? Anybody home?" Shelley asked again, louder. Mike was still starting off into space. Shelly finally kicked Mike in the shins.

"Hunh? Wha? Oh, sorry Shelly. Were you saying something?" Mike replied almost sleepily.

"I was just commenting on your unusual method of eating food," Shelly said, pointing to her cheek.

Mike wiped off his cheek and said, "Well, my parents always said I had a eating problem." He gave a weak laugh. "So, is everything ready?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is everything ready for the mission?" The conversation died all around the table as everyone turned to stare at Mike. Mike looked around and asked, "What? I'm still going, aren't I?"

"So you finally got off your high horse, eh kid?" Leo asked. Yosh shot him a warning look that Mike missed. "Finally realized that real rebellions are nothing like the movies?"

"What makes you say that I was under that impression at any time?" Mike retorted.

"I just thought that your moral code would have made you sit this one out."

"Well, I'm going and that's that," Mike replied, standing up from the table. "Excuse me, but I need to finish getting ready." Yosh and Leo exchanged knowing glances, and a faint smile touched Leo's lips. _Everything's falling into place_, he thought.

Mike walked into his room where Rose was waiting for him. Seeing Rose waiting for him, he asked, "Where have you been, Rose? You've been gone most of the afternoon."

"I was getting you this," Rose said, pulling something out from under her mattress. It was five feet long, one inch thick, dark green with brass tips. She tossed it to Mike, who made a fumbling catch. He was surprised by how light it was. "I figured that you would need some sort of weapon. I was down at the dojo customizing it." Mike took a few swipes with the staff, testing the balance and flex of it. "Pretty good, huh?"

"Yeah. Nice and light. Good flex to it," Mike responded, flipping it into the air and catching it. He looked at Rose and said, "Thanks."

"Any guesses about Leo?" Rose asked.

"He and Yosh are up to something, but I'm not sure what," Mike answered grimly.

"Anyway, you should be careful."

Mike put on a half-grin and asked, "Paranoid, Rose?"

Rose stood up, put on a similar smile, and responded, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you." Mike grinned and picked up his bag of "luggage". "Good luck," Rose said, watching him walk out the door. 

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1845 hours

Mike sat on the end of his bed cradling his chin in his hand, think about the upcoming mission. The four of them, Shelly, Goombard, Yosh, and Mike, had just checked into their hotel room in Mike's hometown. They had gotten two adjacent rooms, one for Yosh and Mike, the other for Shelly and Goombard. Shelly and Goombard entered the room from their adjacent lodgings, Shelly holding a roll of papers in her hand. "Come over here, Mike. Since you left the briefing early, this will be your first run through the plan," she said, pulling over a small table and unrolling the papers.

"Considering I'm the 'leader' of this operation, I don't do much leading, do I," he replied dryly. He pulled up a chair and sat backwards on it.

"The plan is that Yosh and I will sneak in through the loading docks and plant the bomb in the center of the factory," Shelly said, tracing their route with one claw.

Mike looked at the route and said, "Please tell me you're not going through the air ducts." Yosh and Shelly looked at him wordlessly. Mike held his head in his hands and said in disbelief, "Oh my god, they're going through the air ducts."

Shelly continued unperturbed, "Goombard will act as lookout here." She pointed to a brown dot on the map.

"And what, pray tell, am I doing?" Mike asked.

"You'll be creating a diversion at the front door, drawing the guards away from the entrance that we'll be using."

Mike stood up and said, disgusted, "Well, it's official. This is the stupidest plan I have ever heard."

"What's wrong with it?" Yosh asked.

"Would you like that list sorted alphabetically, chronologically, or by how stupid? How about my part? How am I getting out of that mess? Besides, anyone who has a head on their shoulders would get suspicious of such of a distraction at a factory like that. Should I go on? How about even coming to this hotel? Didn't you see all the looks we were getting? It's almost like a bad joke! 'A Goomba, a Yoshi, and a koopa walk into a bar…' I can see the punch line now!" Mike spat sarcastically.

"Those are only problems because you made them problems. You stuck out like a sore thumb on the way up here! They'll only be suspicious if you do a bad job of acting!" Yosh said. He stood up and glared at Mike, "I personally think this is one of Leo's best plans!" The electricity in the room was almost tangible at the two stared at each other with equal amounts of hate.

Mike turned away first. He put his hand on his chin and lowered his head. "Leo…" he muttered. He then slapped himself in the forehead and said, "DUH! It's so simple!" He turned back to Yosh and said with a touch of venom, "Leo wants to get rid of me. He's afraid of me. Rose has been telling you guys how great I am that he feels challenged!" He scanned the plans, "Well, Leo can take his plan and stuff it. Come on guys, let's come up with a new one." No one stirred. Mike looked up and said, "Well?"

"I think that Leo's plan is pretty good, Mike…" Goombard commented quietly.

"So do I…" Shelly added.

"Oh, I get it. You're all in awe over the infallible grandson of Mario. You share in his opinion that Luigi was nothing more than a worthless coward. Well, I'll tell you this: He was greater than all of you combined. I knew him for a long time without knowing who he really was, and in that time he proved himself to be a great person. He was caring and loving and knew more about me than any of you could ever guess," Mike said, tears brimming, his anger taking over. He strode over to the pile of bags and picked one up. "I suggest that you all go back to your idol and god, Leo. And when you see him, tell him to take his revolution, and shove it up his ass." He strode over to the door and, quoting a now long forgotten show, "Screw you guys, I'm going home."

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__

1930 hours

Mike walked up to the front door of his house, exhausted but feeling much better than he had before. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it easily. _Forgot to lock it when Rose dragged me out of here_, he thought. He looked up and sighed. "Why did you have to do that?" he muttered. He stepped inside the door and turned on the lights.

Meanwhile, Yosh sat alone on his bed in the hotel. Shelly and Goombard were in their own room, quietly talking about what Mike had said. Yosh stopped listening to their conversation and picked up the receiver on the video phone. He dialed a number and switched the phone over to voice-only mode. It rang three times, and then Leo's voice come through. "Is everything in order?" he asked.

"It went perfectly. Mike took the bomb, and by tomorrow, he will be out of the picture," Yosh replied.

"Good. If Plan A doesn't work, be ready to use Plan B."

"Affirmative."

Mike set the duffel bag down in the center of his room. He opened it and removed its contents, the bomb Shelly had shown him. He took a good look at it, turned it around in his hands. _What am I going to do with you?_ he asked himself in his head. Suddenly, he noticed that the timer read 0:30. "That's strange…" Mike commented. He rustled through the other contents, eventually finding the little handwritten sheet with the instructions that Shelly left in there. He scanned the note, finding the code to re-set the timer. He punched in the access code and waited. To Mike surprise and dread, the timer started counting down. "Oh shit!" Mike swore. He scanned the paper again, thankfully finding the disarm code. He punched it in and breathed a sigh of relief as the timer stopped at 22 seconds. "That was too close," Mike sighed, wiping his forehead. Suddenly, the timer started up again. "Goddamn it!" he yelled. He tried punching in the disarm code again, but to no avail. Goombard's words, "…There is the old reliable method of cutting the wires…" rang in his ears as he pulled out his pocketknife. _Red wire, it's always the red wire_, he thought, opening the access lid. There was a red, blue, green, and yellow wire running through it. He placed his knife along the red wire. Suddenly, Leo's voice was in his head, saying, "… nothing like the movies …" He took his knife away from the red wire. 0:15 the timer read. _Which one, which one?_ He thought frantically. His knife wavered with his indecision. Suddenly, his own voice resounded in his head, saying, "…share in his opinion that Luigi was a coward…" Mike grinned and cut the wire.

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A/N: Sorry about taking so long to update this, schoolwork's been a major pain and I had a huge case of writer's block. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't stay up too late wondering about the cliffhanger!


	9. Are Sure to go Awry

Chapter 9: Are Sure to go Awry 

            Mike exhaled slowly and looked at the tangle of wires.  His hand still clasped the ends of the yellow wire he just cut.  He looked at the timer, which had stopped at 0:00.22.  "Twenty-two, my lucky number," he commented, grinning.  He slowly followed his train of thought that led him to cut the yellow wire.  "Leo's got nothing on me."  His one problem solved, he thought once again about the factory.  He sighed and decided to clean himself up.

            Mike found his thoughts returning to Rose as he walked around his house.  _How did they find her? he wondered.  __And how did they prove this to her, that she was the descendent of Luigi and Daisy.  He stopped suddenly as something in a bookshelf caught his eye.  He reached out and picked up the picture.  In the picture were Mike and his grandfather, back about four years, when he was 12.  __This was the picture grandma took after grandpa gave me my pendent, he mused to himself.  Mike's eyes then started tearing as he thought about the tragic events that took his grandfather's life._

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Four Years Ago 

            Mike was walking down the street with his grandfather.  He was holding up the metallic star pendant that he had been given the past week.  "Thank you again, Grandpa," Mike said.  

Grandpa looked down at him and said, "Your welcome, Mike.  But you don't have to keep saying thank you."

"Yeah, but it's so cool!"  Grandpa laughed.  Suddenly, a woman's shrill scream could be heard a little down the street.  Mike and Grandpa rushed down the street and down an alley.  There they saw a young lady being harassed by a trio of thugs.

"Leave her alone," Grandpa said.  He walked over with a confident air.  The three punks let the woman go.  She muttered thanks and started walking away.  "Now about you three," Grandpa said, turning back to the three.  Suddenly, the woman drew a knife out and turned on Grandpa.

            "Grandpa!  Look out!" Mike yelled as he ran at the woman with the knife, trying to hold her from behind.  She pushed him off easily, and he stumbled to the ground.  Grandpa turned to look at Mike and was jumped by the other three thugs.  He managed to shake one of them off but was driven to the ground.  Mike ran over to help, but was caught in the neck by a clothesline thrown by the woman.  "Let go of me!" he shouted as the woman put him in a headlock.  He struggled, but her hold was too strong.  Grandpa was still on the ground getting beaten up by the other three punks.  Mike finally got it into to head to start yelling, "HELP!  HELP!"

            "Shut up, kid," the woman said back, moving him into a chokehold.  Mike continued to yell.  His vision became fuzzy.  His voice started to gurgle.  His lungs were burning and demanding air.  Finally, someone showed up.  Mike couldn't make out who it was, because he was wearing a cloak.  The four thugs ran as soon as they saw him.  Mike dropped to the ground and blacked out.  Mike woke up in the hospital an hour later, where he was given the bad news.

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            Mike found himself sitting on the floor, his back against a couch, tears running down his cheeks.  _If only I had done something different, something better, faster, he would still be alive, he thought.  __Buy why?  Why didn't you tell me?  Mike sat there with little more than his thoughts to comfort him._

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            Yosh sat on the end of his bed, watching the TV.  Shelly was sitting on the other bed, looking over the plan.  "Have you figured out what we're going to do?" Yosh asked her.

            "Not really," she replied.  _If we hadn't been so thickheaded, we wouldn't be in this mess.  Poor Mike, she thought._

            "Well, we've got to come up with something," Yosh said, turning back to the TV.  _Damn it, why couldn't he have just gone along with the plan?  Now he has to go and blow himself up in order for Leo to hold up his end of the bargain, he thought._

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            Mike sat in front of his computer above his bed.  He was busy sorting through his in-box, deleting the spam and replying to his friends.  "I might be too busy to write," the message said, "I've got something huge going on.  Don't ask me now.  Talk to you later!"  He leaned back and sighed, covering his face with his hands.  _What am I gonna do now?  I'm on the run and with no one to trust.  Well…  I should get rid of the bomb, he thought, __but where do I leave it?  He looked back at the computer screen, a smile slowly crawling across his face.  __Maybe I can still help out their little group.  With Leo as the leader, they'll need as much help as they can get._

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Next morning, 0800 hours 

            Mike sat a little off the edge of a quiet little road in the middle of nowhere.  Fifty feet to his left was a tunnel coming out of a hill, but Mike knew it was more than just a tunnel.  Chris, the son of the local guard, Karl, had shown him this tunnel and told him that about 100 feet in was the entrance to a pipe so big that you could fit a Mack truck into it.  Mike glanced down at his watch nervously.  _They better show up soon, or else I'll never get to the others in time, he thought.  Mike was waiting on an inspection group that was coming to make a routine surprise checkup on the factory.  He had one of his hacker acquaintances break into the timetable for all of Bowser's little cronies.  Mike had also put in a call to the hotel and found out that Yosh and the others were still there.  If they were still going to plan, Mike had an hour and a half until they would be in the factory.  He hadn't worried about them too much until he remembered something from his little disagreement with Yosh.  While he had been yelling and fuming, Shelly had been going over another cylinder.  They had a backup bomb.  Mike had to stop them and save all the innocent people._

Suddenly, two glowing lights that had just appeared in the tunnel drew his attention.  "Time to play my part," Mike said, standing up and sticking out his thumb.  An inconspicuous van emerged from the tunnel, if you called all-black vans with double thick windows and support struts inconspicuous.  The van slowed down and stopped in front of him.  The passenger, a woman a few inches shorter than Mike, stepped out holding a pair of handcuffs.  "Handcuffs, eh?  Kinky," he commented, grinning.

            "Don't you know that hitchhiking is a crime?" the woman said, ignoring Mike's comment.

            "Wow, you guys _are anal!" Mike retorted.  Seeing that this might not be such an easy arrest, the other three occupants of the van climbed out.  The driver, a semi-short man with wavy red hair and sunglasses, stepped out with a gun.  The back doors swung open and out came two red-shelled koopas who looked equally surly.  Mike slowly put his hands in the air and gulped.  __This is not what I had in mind, he thought.  "Umm…  Can we talk this through?"_

            "What's going on here?" a voice demanded from down the street.  Mike turned to see an emerald-shelled koopa get off a motorbike.

            "Karl!?" Mike shouted, almost falling off his feet.

            "Karl?" the woman asked quizzically, looking at the new arrival.  "Oh yes, now I remember.  Karl Setzly, enforcer for region #85779, 5 inquiries and 3 demerits."

            Mike let out a low whistle and said, "Wow.  That many?"

            "All thanks to you," Karl replied.  He stepped forward, handcuffs in hand, intending on arresting Mike.  "I'll take it from here," he said to the four henchmen.  Mike submitted quickly as Karl snapped on the handcuffs.  Leading Mike away, he commented, "Mike, Mike, Mike…  You should be more like your cousin."  Mike glanced at him questioningly and got a sly grin back.

            "Well, in a situation like this, Rose would do…" Mike started.  He shucked off his restraints, grabbed Karl's wrists, and started to turn around.  "…THIS!" he shouted, flinging Karl at the man with the gun.  Karl retracted into his shell and slammed into the man right on the chin, knocking him out cold.  Karl wisely stayed in his shell as Mike dived over to his bag and grabbed the staff Rose had gotten him.  He stood up, feeling supremely confident.  The woman, not expecting a fight, told the two koopas to rush him.  Mike quickly jumped to the side and hit the closest koopa in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.  The other guard skidded to a halt and started in on Mike again, this time a little slower.  Mike tried a horizontal swipe at the incoming guard, but it was ineffective because of the turtle's hard shell.  Mike then brought his staff back and tried to stab the koopa in the stomach.  This also proved to be ineffective, as the guard just grinned evilly.  In desperation, Mike continued to stab the koopa in the stomach, all the wile moving back to stay out or reach.  The guard laughed and said, "Ha.  Is that the best you can do?"  Mike responded by stopping his stabs and jumped up into the air, both hands on one end of his weapon.  As he came down, he smashed the staff on top of the guard's head.

            "No," Mike said, smiling, "_that's the best I have."  He turned to the remaining guard, who had taken awhile to return to his feet.  Mike took a step towards him, staff held in both hands, pointing at the guard.  Mike planned to use the same trick on this new adversary.  He waited until the guard came closer and then took a quick step forward and stabbed the staff into the stomach of the guard.  Before he pulled it back, however, the guard grabbed on to it and used the leverage to fling Mike to the ground.  Mike got back up slowly and muttered, "Stupid move, Mike.  Stupid move."  The guard approached Mike, his weapon in his hand.  He brought it up over his shoulder, intent on smashing the still-dazed Mike in the head.  Mike was feeling too woozy to do anything but wobble and stare.  The guard stepped forward, a malicious grin on his face.  He was about to strike the final blow when he suddenly fell over on his face.  Mike shook his head and stared at Karl, who had sneaked up behind the guard and KO'ed him with his nightstick.  "Thanks for the assist, Karl," Mike said._

            "No problAHHHHHHHH!!!" Karl's reply was cut short as several thousand volts coursed through his body.  Mike turned to see the woman holding an air-tazer, the two electrodes embedded in Karl's arm.   The woman yanked on the tazer, ripping out the electrodes, and pushed a button that reeled them in.  Mike rushed her and slapped the tazer out of her hand.  Her face finally showed some emotion as her fear came through.

            "Don't worry," Mike said, "my dad taught me never to hit a lady."  The woman looked relieved.  Mike smirked, "But then again, he's not here right now, is he?"  He backhanded her across her face and she fell onto the blacktop, unconscious.  He rushed back to Karl and patted him on the face.  Karl moaned as he floated back towards conscience.  "Are you OK?" Mike asked.

            "Maybe," he replied.

            "How many fingers am I holding up?" Mike asked.

            "None.  That's your thumb," Karl replied, grinning.  Mike grinned back as he helped the turtle up.  He walked over to the male human and started to remove his uniform.  "What are you up to?" Karl asked.

            "I could ask you the same thing," Mike responded.

            "I asked you first."

            "But I have the longer explanation."

            Karl sighed.  "This whole business is just so … unfulfilling."  Mike raised an eyebrow.  "I've decided to just hang it up, to run away from it all."

            "Does Chris know about this?" Mike asked.

            "Not yet, but I don't think he'll mind."

            "He might even applaud you."

            "So what about you, Mike?"

            "I'll only tell you if you let me get all the way through."  Karl nodded.  Mike took a deep breath and started talking, "A few days ago, Rose showed up at my front door, telling me to pack up a few things.  She dragged me out the front door and down a pipe that had just sprung up in my backyard.  We landed in some sewers someplace where she told me that we're descendants of Luigi and Daisy.  Then she introduced me to some other members of an underground revolution made up of other descendents of heroes, like Mario, Princess Peach, and Kooper."

            There was a brief pause before Karl said, "You know, it's a good thing I decided to quit, otherwise that would be quite the haul… if it were true.  It was Rose that told you about this, right?"

            "Yeah, but I believe her this time.  It all seems to make sense, you know?  I've seen my family's file enough times.  On my dad's side, it goes way back to the 1800's, but on my mom's side, it only goes back as far as my grandparents.  Doesn't that seem odd?"

            "But that could be due to a lack of information.  Take it from someone who knows, there are a million and a half reasons why that may have happened.  Lack of pre-Bowser documentation, tampering with the files, change of name.  There are some really simple things that would screw up the system," Karl pointed out.

            "But that's what happened," Mike retorted.  "Lack of pre-Bowser documentation?  They had a lack of documentation period, coming from the Mushroom Kingdom.  Change of name?  If you were going to make a game using supposedly 'fictitious' characters, wouldn't change your name to keep the buzz and press off of you?  Tampering with files?  How would they have managed to stay hidden for so long?"

            "But…"

            "My parents are on the run now!  Why are they on the lamb if they have nothing to hide?"

            "Okay, okay, I believe you," Karl said.  "Man, this is too weird."

            "That's what I said."

            "But what about the others?  How are you sure that they are the real thing, and not just trying to use you?"

            Mike sighed and walked back to his bag.  "I don't.  In fact, I've been wondering about their validity myself, especially since they tried to blow me up."

            "BLOW YOU UP?!" Karl shouted.

            "Yeah.  They're on a mission to blow up that new factory over by my house.  I didn't agree with their methodology and I stormed out, taking the bomb with me."

            "So what are you doing here?"

            "They have a backup.  I have to stop them before they kill all those people."

            "I'm going with you," Karl said, turning towards the van.

            "Heck no.  They may or may not trust me, but I _know they won't trust you."_

            Karl sighed.  "All right, but what do you want me to do?"

            Mike stooped down and grabbed some rope out of his bag.  "Here," he said, throwing the rope to Karl, "tie them up."  Karl nodded and went to work while Mike walked over to the redheaded male and started to take off his uniform.

            "And what are you doing?"

            "Getting supplies."

            "Don't you have enough clothes?"

            "Yeah, but these are, like, such a bargain and in, like, oh-my-gawd, just the style I wanted!" Mike answered, trying to sound as Val as possible.

            Karl shuddered.  "Don't _ever do that again."  He finished the knot he was tying around the two guards and started restraining the woman.  "So, what's your plan?"_

            "Plan?  What plan?  I'm making this up as I go along."

            "You shouldn't take this so lightly, Mike.  You're in a big pile of crap right now with a truckload more on the way."

            "I know, I know.  I actually do have a plan.  First, I intercept my 'friends.'  Second, we blow up the factory without killing anyone.  Third, Rose and I find some way to get you and Chris to a safe hiding spot."

            "How are you going to blow up the factory without killing anyone?"  Mike laid the uniform over his own body and grinned.  "Ah…  Very clever," Karl said, smiling back.

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0900 hours 

            Yosh, Shelly, and Goombard strode out of the hotel, the latter two feeling more than a little uncomfortable.  Yosh's face was grim.  He had stayed up half the night watching the news for any sign of an explosion, but none came.  Since plans A and B had apparently failed, he had decided to pack it up and head back to base.  _No need to get Shelly and Goombard hurt, he thought.  "I hope Mike will be okay," Shelly said._

            "Yeah," Goombard agreed.

            "He left on his own accord," Yosh said.  "Personally, I hope I never see him again, the stuck-up little brat."

            "He only left because we were being so hard on him," Shelly retorted.

            "Well, this isn't a game," Yosh said.

            "You keep saying that, and yet you do nothing to help…"  Their argument was interrupted by a black van skidding to a halt in front of their path.  The dark tinted driver's side window slid down.

            "I'm not too late to join the party, am I?" Mike said, poking his grinning head out the opened window.

            "Mike!" Shelly and Goombard both yelled, running up to the door.

            "What are you doing here?" Yosh asked, approaching slowly.

            "First," Mike started, getting out of the van, "I came to do this!"  He punctuated his sentence by hitting Yosh in his large nose with a fast right hook.  Yosh was knocked back onto the ground.  "That's for trying to blow me to kingdom come!  What in the hell did you think you were doing?"

            "I just did what Leo asked me to do…" Yosh said, holding his very sore nose.

            "Again with Leo!"

            "What's going on?" Goombard asked.

            "This moron here sabotaged the bomb I took with me to countdown when I tried to change the timer," Mike said slowly, his anger barely in check.

            "But… why were you trying to change the timer?" Shelly asked.

            "I didn't realize that you had a secondary bomb, and the timer was set on 30 seconds.  I thought I'd finish the mission, but in my own way, without killing anyone."

            Yosh scoffed, "And how would you do that?"

            "Get in the van and I'll tell you," Mike said.  Shelly and Goombard looked at each other for a brief second and nodded.  Shelly opened the wide door in the side of the van and got in.  Goombard followed.  Yosh stood up and rubbed his nose, looking defiantly at Mike.  "Come on, you big baby," Mike said, walking over and grabbing Yosh, "I don't punch that hard."  With that, he unceremoniously threw Yosh into the van and climbed into the driver's seat.  He drove off and joined the normal flow of traffic.  Shelly sat in the passenger seat and Goombard stood in the space between the seats.  Yosh sat in the back of the van, sulking.

            "So, what's the plan?" Shelly asked.

            "We're gonna walk in the front door," Mike said, smiling.

            "How?" Goombard asked.

            "I can't believe I let Leo down…" Yosh moaned from the back.

            "By impersonating an inspection group," Mike said, ignoring Yosh.

            "So _that's where you got the van," Shelly said._

            "And this uniform, too," Goombard said, noticing the pile of clothes in the front of the van.

            "And then what?" Shelly asked.

            "I can't believe I let Leo and Peach down…" Yosh moaned again from the back of the van, louder this time.

            "Since we're on the subject, what in the world is Yosh talking about?" Mike asked.  Shelly shrugged and Mike turned down a side street and stopped.  He unbuckled himself and got out of his seat.  He kneeled in front of Yosh and asked, "What was Leo's plan?"  Yosh stayed silent.

            "Yosh, please tell us," Shelly pleaded.  "This involves all of us."  Yosh still didn't answer.

            "The inspection team…" Mike said slowly, standing up.  Yosh looked up at him.  "I was gonna walk right in the front door, right into the waiting arms of the inspection team, who would tie me up into a little package and set me right on Bowser's doorstop."  Yosh stared at Mike for a long couple of seconds.

            Shelly finally broke the silence by asking, "Is this true, Yosh?"  Yosh still refused to talk.

            "But why?" Goombard asked.

            "Simple.  Leo hates me because he hates Luigi," Mike said.

            "But Leo's a nice guy, despite his recent attitude.  Besides, if what you say is true, why hasn't he done anything to Rose?"

            "Because Rose would give him the beating of his life."

            "True, but what if Leo really is planning something for Rose?" Shelly asked.

            "He's not…" Yosh said, finally.  "Mike was the only target he wanted."

            There was a pause.  "Fine then," Mike said, "Since Rose isn't in danger, we'll go blow up the factory and then confront Leo."

            "Why bother?" Goombard asked.

            "Because nobody around here likes it.  All the workers there commute from other cities.  The only thing we get out of it is pollution.  Lovely, thick smog.  I figure I might as well try to give something back to the community.  You with me?"  Shelly and Goombard looked at each other then looked at Mike and nodded.

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0930 hours 

            Mike shoved open the double glass doors that served as the entrance to the administrative area of the factory.  He strode in, practically exuding confidence and smug pride.  Shelly and Goombard followed, the former doing a fairly good job of copying Mike's mood, the latter having a much harder time of it, considering he was about a foot and a half tall.  Shelly was wearing one of Karl's old dress uniforms that Mike had managed to borrow off of Karl.  Mike was in the uniform he stole off the man from the real inspection team.

            The man tending the front desk, a short, shaking man who looked like he was having a seizure right then and there came up to the trio and asked, "Umm…  Who are you?"

            "We're with the Bowser Inspection Agency," Mike said in an condescending tone, briefly flashing his stolen ID card.

            "Bu… bu… but… you're scheduled here at ten o'clock," the man stammered back.

            "I have a saying.  'To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is not to be.'  You got that?" Mike snarled, pushing his face close to the nervous assistant.

            "Is there a problem?" said a smooth voice from off to the side.  Mike turned to see a man in a black suit addressing him.

            "That depends," Mike replied.  "Are you the operator of this factory?"

            "Yes, I am Mr. Milsylski," the suited man replied.  "And you are?"

            "BIA team #717," Mike said calmly.

            "Ahh yes, the inspection team," the man checked his watch, "a bit ahead of schedule, but that's not a problem," Milsylski replied, keeping the smoothness in his voice.  "You! Johnson!  Show those two around," he pointed to Shelly and Goombard, "I believe their supervisor has some questions for me."  Mike simply nodded and followed Milsylski into his office.  Johnson, the jittery man, led Shelly and Goombard through another door and onto the factory floor.

            Mike remembered Mr. Milsylski from a fieldtrip his class had taken awhile ago.  He was thankful that he hadn't stuck out on that day, or else the whole plan was shot.  Milsyski's office had a glass wall, giving him a birds-eye view of the factory floor.  Mike saw Shelly and Goombard being led through the innards of the plant.  "So, how long has this plant been operational?" he asked the foreman.

            "Eight months," Milsylski responded.

            "How many employees?"

            "Nine hundred and seventy-two."

            "Distribution of races?"

            "Eighty-seven percent human, twelve percent Koopa, and one percent Goomba," Milsylski said, almost mechanically.  Mike saw that this conversation was almost rehearsed, so he decided to try a curve ball.

            "What do you think of the non-human races?"

            "Come again?"

            "I've heard rumors that you despise any non-human race," Mike said, mentally crossing his fingers.

            "No, no.  Not in the least," the foreman stammered back, his face clearly showing he wasn't ready for this.

            "Don't worry, I hate 'em too," Mike said reassuringly.  "Total incompetence.  You need to hold their hand through even the most simple task."

            "True, but what about the other members of your team?"

            "Usually my assistant would take care of them, but she called in sick.  Something really nasty.  It put her in the hospital, and it's not like I can take a personal day just because one of my team is sick."

            "I hope she gets better," Milsylski said, almost sounding truly sympathetic.  "But what about your report.  You don't expect them to be able to check things thoroughly, do you?"

            "Not a problem.  I can get all the information I need from you," Mike said, putting his end of the plan into effect.  He started asking some technical questions about the plant, nodding approvingly at the answers.  After about three minutes he asked, "Best fire drill time?"

            "Six minutes, fifteen seconds."

            Mike whistled.  "That's awfully impressive…  May I have a demonstration?"

            "Certainly."  The foreman smiled and went over to a console of buttons on the wall and pressed a red one with a fire symbol on it.  A siren started to wail.  "Excuse me, but I must see to the troops.  You may view their progress from here before joining me outside."

            "Thank you," Mike said, and turned to look out the window.  _Please say you're ready, guys…_

            Shelly and Goombard both looked around nervously when the sirens went off.  "Oh, there's the fire alarm for the drill," Johnson said.  "I've ah… got to go and uh…  help."

            "We'll take it from here," Shelly said, nodding.  She and Goombard headed over to where they felt the bombs would do the most damage, a mammoth pillar that stretched all the way to the ceiling.  Shelly pulled out her walkie-talkie and clicked the call button twice.

            "All set?" Mike's voice crackled over the radio.

            "Affirmative.  What's the countdown?" Shelly asked.

            There was a long silence before Mike said, "Six minutes.  That should give us about 30 seconds leeway."

            "Will do.  Just get out of here."

            "Affirmative."

            The employees were all standing in a square formation a safe distance from the factory.  Milsylski was standing at the front of the display, holding a stopwatch.  Mike, Shelly, and Goombard were striding up behind him.  The foreman turned to them, a hint of a smile playing on his face.  Mike knew that the workers had just set "a fantastic new record" that would be sure to please any actual inspection teams.  While still out of earshot, Shelly whispered, "Mike, we still have 45 seconds!"

            "I know, I know.  I have an idea," Mike whispered back.  Mike kept walking towards Milsylski who promptly showed him the stopwatch, which read "5:37".

            "Your presence must have inspired them to reach for perfection," the foreman said.

            "Shouldn't they always be doing so?" Mike asked, trying to stay in character.

            "Yes, but…"

            "Never mind.  May I speak to the workers?"

            "Certainly."

            Mike strode up to the head of the worker's formation and began to speak, "Proud workers, proud people who serve the all-mighty Bowser, I am impressed with what I have seen here today," the workers seemed to look happier, which quickly faded as Mike continued, "But know this, when you are working at this manufacturing plant, you are not just working for Bowser, you are working for the future of all peoples!"  The crowd, realizing that this was a compliment, let out a bellowing cheer.  The cheer, however, was drowned out by the two bombs going off in the factory.  Everybody let out a gasp as the building went up in a great ball of fire.

            "Pretty…" Goombard said quietly.

            "Now that is a thing of beauty," Shelly commented just as softly.  Even Mike had a silly grin on his face.  _Mission Accomplished, he thought to himself.  Recomposing himself, he turned to Milsylski and said, "Well, this should make for an interesting report."  With that he turned and headed off towards the van and left the speechless Milsylski gaping._

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_1030 hours_

            Mike stood over the grave, holding a bouquet of white daisies, as was his custom.  He kneeled, setting the flowers down at the base of the headstone that marked where his grandparents were buried.  "Grandma, Grandpa, don't be afraid, but I'm going to be going away for right now.  Don't worry about me, if I get in over my head, Rose will be there to help me.  I'll be back soon," Mike said quietly.

            "So this is their grave, Luigi and Daisy…" Shelly said, equally solemn, as she kneeled a bit behind Mike.  Goombard and Yosh were standing a distance back.

            "Yeah," Mike said, nodding.

            "It's very peaceful."

            Mike answered by nodding again.

            "I figured I'd find you here," said someone from behind the four.

            "Uh-oh," Yosh said, turning around.

            "Aw crap," Goombard said, sharing his sentiment and looked in the same direction.

            "Hey, Karl," Mike said without getting up.

            "Karl?" Yosh inquired, looking back at Mike.  "Isn't that the name of the local guard?"

            "What's he doing here, Mike?" Goombard said, taking a few steps back from Karl.

            Mike slowly stood up and turned around, "I invited him."

            "A double-cross?!" Yosh said, surprised.

            "Why, Mike?" Shelly said, backing away from the teen.

            "Geez, enough with the melodramatics," Mike said, "He wants to defect."

            "How can you be so sure we can trust him?" Yosh asked.

            "Heck, right now I'm not sure I can trust you guys."

            "Leo had his reasons," Yosh said, sounding for all the world like a little kid on the verge of a temper tantrum.

            "Which you still haven't decided to enlighten us with," Mike shot back.

            "I you had just followed the plan, I wouldn't have to!"

            "If I had followed your idiotic plan, I'd be DEAD!"

            "I'm still here…" Karl said lightly.

            "STAY OUT OF THIS!!" Mike and Yosh both yelled.

            "You're starting to sound like Rose, Mike," said another Koopa flatly, coming up behind Karl.

            Mike sighed, trying to cover a laugh.  "That's a low blow, Chris," he said, the anger flowing out of him.

            "Chris?" Shelly asked.

            "My son," Karl said.

            "Your wife coming too?" Yosh asked mockingly.

            "We parted ways a long time ago…"

            "I'm sorry," Shelly said softly.

            "Don't worry about it."

            "So, these are your new 'friends'?" Chris asked.

            "That depends on how loosely you use that term," Mike replied.

            "Strange, Mike, I remember you telling me that they could help us out," Karl said.

            "Well, I figured they would have a safe house somewhere, right?"

            "No," Yosh said.

            "Yes we do," Shelly said at the same time.

            "Shelly!" Yosh said, aghast.

            "Either way…" Mike cut in, "I wasn't really planning on bringing them there anyway, at least not yet."

            "Why not, Mike?" Karl asked.

            "He needs to resolve the conflicts within," Chris said mysteriously.

            "Come again?" Goombard asked, trying to get back into the conversation.

            "I need to figure what's up with Leo," Mike clarified.

            Chris smiled lightly and nodded.  "Pretty much."

            "In that case," Shelly said, fumbling around in her bag, "take this."  She walked over and handed Karl one of the communicators they had been using.  "We'll call you when we're ready."

            "Thank you," he said in return.

            "If we're all done here, it's time to get back," Mike said.

            "Get back, do-do-do, get back to where we once belonged," Goombard sang.

            "That's horrible."

            "What?  My singing's not that bad…"

            "No, you stole my joke!"


	10. Confrontations and Answers

Chapter 10: Confrontations and Answers

Leo walked through the front door in one of his rare happy moods. _Just a half-hour and they'll be back. I can hardly wait_, he thought. He walked through the double doors into the common room and saw Yosh, looking like he was about to throw up. Leo's face slid into one of sour surprise, and he asked, "What are you doing back so early?"

A chair that was facing away from him replied, "The plan had some modifications made to it." Mike leaned around the back of the chair, grinned, and said, "I'm baaaaack." He nodded, and Rose and Shelly, who had been hiding behind the doors, shut them and stood guard.

"What the hell is going on here?" Leo roared.

"I could ask you the same thing," Mike retorted, getting up out of the chair and standing a foot away from Leo.

"All I did was give you a simple plan to follow."

"Yeah, and a defective bomb to boot."

"I did no such thing."

"Bullshit. Shelly checked the wiring and verified that it had been tampered with, and right now, I'm more inclined to believe her than you."

"But what makes you think it was me?"

"That's such a stupid question, I'm not even going to dignify it with a 'Duh!'"

"Are you calling me a liar, little boy?"

Mike raised an eyebrow at the "little boy" comment. "I think it's obvious at this point."

"Well, what are you going to do about it, punk?" Leo asked, poking Mike solidly in the chest.

"Care to step outside?" Mike taunted.

"Downstairs would be less conspicuous, Mr. Tactics," Leo sneered back.

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Mike looked around the large, mostly empty room and said, "When this is all said and done, I _really_ need to get a tour of this place. Since when did this room exist?" The five of them, accompanied by Joules, Peach, and Goombard, had moved down to the base's exercise gym, a room roughly thirty-foot square with pads for the floor. Leo was standing on one side, and Mike stood across from him.

Peach walked over to Leo and pleaded, "Leo, you don't have to do this."

"Someone needs to put that runt in his place," Leo replied. With that, he strode over to the corner of the room and picked up his, as well as his grandfather's, signature weapon, a large, wooden hammer.

Mike, who had just noticed Leo arming himself, shouted, "Hey! Hold on a second…" Rose wordlessly flipped Mike his staff. He caught it awkwardly and unenthusiastically said, "Gee, thanks." Mike held it with both hands at his side, level with the ground, pointing at Leo. He got his confidence back and loudly said, "Ready whenever you are." Leo replied by picking the head of his hammer off the ground and holding it in a battle ready position, the hammer resting on his shoulder, ready to swing.

"Oh man, Mike is gonna' get creamed," Goombard said softly. "Leo's stronger and weighs a lot more than him."

"True," Rose replied, "but Mike is much faster than Leo and is a foot taller. That combines with his staff gives him excellent reach. Mike'll be fine."

"You may be a little biased, Rose," Shelly cautioned.

"So are you two," she replied softly, not turning to face them.

Neither fighter seemed able to move. They both stood their ground about half the width of the room apart, sizing each other up. Mike, figuring he could afford to take some chances, rushed Leo, his long legs covering the fifteen feet to Leo quickly. Mike attacked by thrusting the end of his staff at Leo's stomach. Leo took his hand off the bottom of his hammer and grabbed the end of the staff with it. He then pulled Mike in and swung the hammer down in an attempt to brain Mike with it. Mike sidestepped it, trying to wrench his weapon free. He then kicked Leo's wrist, but Leo wouldn't let go. Leo's face showed a malicious grin as he picked Mike up with the staff. Mike looked down at his dangling feet and said, "Aww crap." In a last-ditch attempt, Mike swung his feet up and connected solidly with Leo's chin. Leo dropped the staff, and Mike landed on his back with a subdued thud. The staff rolled away from him, and Mike rolled the other way to avoid Leo's retaliatory attack. Mike quickly got up and, seeing his opponent between him and his weapon, said, "Hey, wait a minute! I'm unarmed."

Leo stared at him for a brief moment and said, "I don't need this to beat you anyway." He threw his hammer to the side and slid into a street-fighting stance.

"Gee, thanks," Mike sighed as his slid into more of a martial arts pose. _And I thought I was screwed before… Oh boy…_

The two combatants started to circle each other. Mike had learned from his past mistake and wouldn't approach Leo. Leo, finally growing impatient, started to inch towards Mike. When he was close enough, Leo swung at Mike's head. Mike sidestepped him and got in a quick jab to the side of Leo's face, and then he danced away as Leo reeled slightly. They repeated the pattern a few times, each time Leo came in with a harder attack, which Mike dodged and countered, each time managing to get in a harder counter-attack.

"I never thought I'd say this, but it looks like Leo's on the ropes," Goombard said.

"I've seen something like this before," Shelly said, not hearing Goombard's comment. "In a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The one where he's a matador."

"Unfortunately, that's where Mike gets most of his moves from: games, cartoons, and old kung-fu movies," Rose said.

"Where's an anvil when you need one?" Goombard asked.

Mike ducked under Leo's wild right hook and managed to trip him with a sweeping kick. Mike danced back and said, "Are you going to give up and admit the truth?"

"I can never, have never, and will never give up," Leo said darkly, getting up off the floor. "Especially not to the likes of you."

Mike sighed. "I figured you would say that." Mike stood his ground as Leo came to attack him again. Leo started in with a left punch, which Mike easily ducked. Leo smiled as he then lifted his knee and connected solidly with Mike's stomach. Mike doubled over, gasping for breath. Leo followed up by driving his elbow into Mike's back, sending the youth straight down, face first, onto the floor. Mike attempted to get back up, but Leo stopped him with a kick to the ribs that sent Mike flying. Mike landed face down halfway across the room.

"Leo!" Peach gasped, aghast at what he had done.

Rose hid her face in her hand and said, "Mike, how many times do I have to tell you? Roll away from your opponent."

Leo walked slowly over to where Mike lay. "Goes to show how little you know," he taunted.

Mike chuckled, albeit strained. "I know enough."

Leo's eyebrows arched. "Come again?"

"I know enough. For example … you're no hero … just some brute who got lucky … with his heritage." Leo's eyes widened in rage as he kicked Mike again.

Peach started to run out to Leo, but Rose stopped her. "What are you doing? Leo will kill Mike if he keeps that up," she said.

"I know, I know," Rose said, "but, in honor of Mike, I'm going with a long shot here. Don't worry. If things get much worse, I'll stop Leo."

During a reprieve from Leo's kicks, Mike croaked out, "Yeah… Big man… Kicking… someone… who's down." Leo merely responded by corking up one final crushing kick and delivering it squarely to Mike's ribs, sending him flying. Much to everyone's surprise, Mike righted himself in the air and landed on his feet next to his staff. "Someone ought to teach you some manners."

"Bingo," Rose said. "This ought to be fun."

Mike looked down and kicked his staff up into his hands. He then approached Leo, twirling the staff slowly about himself. Leo stood his ground, unsure if this was some sort of hyper-bravado, last-ditch effort on Mike's part, or something more. Mike had learned, however, and didn't give Leo time to think. Mike whipped the staff around, hitting Leo in the ribs. He brought it back, spun the other way, and thwacked Leo's knee. Next, he smashed the butt of the staff into Leo's stomach, doubling the older teen over. Finally, Mike leapt into the air with a shout and slammed the staff down onto the back of Leo's head, knocking him out cold. Everyone stood in stunned silence at the surprising come back. "That's one hell of a second wind," Goombard said, breaking the silence. A brooding Mike wordlessly turned and headed out the door, discarding his staff along the way. Rose awoke from her stupor and ran after him.

After they had left the room, Peach ran over to her brother, kneeled down and checked him over. "Good, he'll be okay," she said to herself. "Yosh, Shelly, come over here and help me get Leo to his room."

Upstairs, by the front door, Mike was getting his coat on. Rose came up behind him and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Out," Mike said shortly.

"Anywhere in particular?"

"No. Just out."

"Are you going to come back?"

"No, this building only has the only safe way I have of getting back home. Why in the world would I want to come back?" Mike shot sarcastically.

"Don't get so bent out of shape, Mike."

"Why not? My parents are on the run from a megalomaniac turtle, I just found out that I'm the grandson of a great hero, and I just won a fight that I had no right winning in the first place! Does that sound like something I should be calm about?! Rose, most people would have died from a beating like that! Instead, I just get right back up like someone had cast Life3 on me! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!"

"I'm… I'm not sure…"

Mike realized he had gotten out of hand, and cooled down a few degrees. "Neither am I, Rose. I just need to get out of here and think." With that, Mike put the hood of his coat up and stepped outside.

"Be careful, Mike…" Rose whispered.

Meanwhile, Peach was busy bandaging Leo. She took great care, and hoped that she wasn't aggravating his injuries, but with Leo knocked out it was hard to tell. Rose stepped into the room and asked, "Will he be okay?"

"Yes," Peach replied, "but Mike worked him over pretty badly."

"I wouldn't call a three-hit-combo 'working him over', but I'm glad to hear he's okay. I don't think Mike really wanted to hurt Leo that badly."

"How did Mike do that anyway?" Shelly asked. "He was probably hurting worse that Leo is now, and yet he got right back up like nothing had happened and beat Leo easily."

"Speaking of Mike, where is he?" Goombard asked.

"He went for a walk," Rose said.

"A walk?!" Yosh shouted.

"You can go try to get him if you want…"

Yosh shut up almost instantly.

Mike looked up from his feet and took a look at wherever it was that he had ended up. It was the kind of street where you could always see parked cars, but never anyone driving down it. The sky was dark, and only a few people could be seen walking on the sidewalks, trying to take as little time outside as necessary. "Hmm," Mike mused to himself. "This looks like the setting for a bad film noir scene… Or a good Max Payne level." He shrugged. "Same difference." Mike slogged onward, his oppressing thoughts weighing down on his shoulders, making his steps heavy. Before, he may have been tempted to sit down until the feeling passed, but not now. Now he knew he had to go on, he had to fight. It was his only option now. His parents had fled, he couldn't go home. The only family he had left was back in the building he had just left, but he couldn't go back. Not yet, anyway. There was still something else bothering him. The kind of thing that the closer you looked at it, the less it came into focus. Mike decided to ignore it, that's the only way he could solve it. He left it on the rearmost burner of his mind to simmer. Snapping back to what was happening now, Mike stopped at a newsstand. He looked over the various Bowser-affiliated digests and newspapers, the wolf's vain attempts at dressing himself up as little red riding hood while he carried both worlds to hell in a hand basket. Mike figured his little escapade wouldn't have even gotten on the back page, if he was lucky. Bowser had a way of turning even the worst losses into miraculous rescues or windfalls, as if the hand of God himself had touched him.

But then again, when one could do what he had done, and get away with it, many people would call that a god.

Or a devil.

As some people would say it, same difference.

Mike was drawn out of his morose line of thought by a tug on the bottom of his coat. He looked down to see a little Koopa girl holding a basket of flowers. He kneeled down and asked, "How can I help you?"

"Do you want to buy a flower?" she asked. "Only one coin."

"Sure," he said, dropping a coin in her hands. "Strange to find flowers here, though."

"My mommy grows them behind our house," she replied.

"Neat. Well, have a nice day," Mike said, getting up and walking away.

The Koopa looked down into her hands and noticed that the coin that Mike gave her was much more that she asked for. "Hey, wait!" she said, looking around, seeing no one. "Mister…"

Mike walked out of the alley he had ducked into and onto a parallel street, a call of "Thank you, young man" following him from the old woman he had given the flower to. In a world covered in storm clouds, someone had to help facilitate the silver linings, or so Mike believed. However, a rumble in the distance interrupted even this happy train of thought. Mike looked up into the sky and was promptly hit in the face by a big oily raindrop. Mike couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of it all, like whoever was up there was trying to mess with his mind. His humor turned to disgust, though, when he realized that this wasn't the kind of refreshing spring showers so common to his home. This rain was gray and black, and fell in huge balls, not drops. Instead of refreshment, it only left people with a feeling of violation, the scuzzy feeling you get when your conscience catches up with you. When he was younger, Mike remembered hearing some of the other kids referring to rain as God's tears. Mike figured this rain was probably more akin to some other bodily fluid and hurried to get out of the rain and inside someplace dry. Not just to get away from the grime, but also to get away from the cruel reminder that he was a stranger in a strange land and was a whole dimension away from home. He looked up and realized that he had walked into a bar. Mike turned around and looked out the door, contemplating taking his chances at another building.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. They say that stuff in practically instant death once it gets coming down hard enough," a voice called from deeper inside. Mike walked in, playing it Bogart. Nobody he passed seemed to pay him any mind, however. This was the kind of place people went to block out the troubles of everyday life by surrounding themselves with moats of whisky and cheap booze. Mike stepped up to the bar and took a seat on a stool. The bartender, a burly, middle aged man, asked, "What'll it be?"

Mike was sorely tempted to say "Milk", but he digressed and simply said, "A soda, please."

"What kind?"

"Anything without the word 'Bowser' in it." In most places, that sort of comment would probably end a person up in jail, or worse, but here it slipped by without a second thought.

"Those are pretty bold words for someone who just came in off the street," the person next to him said.

_Then again…,_ Mike thought. The bartender set Mike's drink in front of him, and Mike thanked him. Turning to the speaker, he said, "Please just stop right there. I'm not in a good mood, and you may get hurt."

The speaker pulled the hood of his cloak down, revealing his face. He was a Toadstool, a surprising enough sight in itself, especially so on this side of the warp. When Mike stopped to think about it, he hadn't even noticed him as he sat down, which was probably the impression desired. His face looked worn and leathery, with creases and wrinkles all over, concentrated around his eyes and mouth. His voice was still high pitched by any standard, but not annoying so. He held a hand up defensively and said, "You don't want to hurt me."

"…" Mike wasn't quite sure if the joke would carry, but he tried anyway, "Can I still sell you Death Sticks?"

"And you said you weren't in a good mood."

"Can't help a quick one-liner."

"So what brings you here, Mike?"

Mike turned back to his drink. "Just thinking."

"Leo giving you a hard time?"

"Yeah." Mike sighed.

"How's Rose?"

Mike looked up. "She's good. It's nice to see her…" Mike spooled the conversation back a few minuets, thinking about something. "…again." Something clicked, and he asked, "How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot about you… and the others."

"Okay, but I believe the question was 'how?'" Mike said, enunciating.

"That's not important right now."

"Well then, who are you?"

"Again, that's unimportant."

Mike sighed, frustrated. "All right, what is important?"

"You are."

Mike looked down at his soda, mumbling, "Cheesy sense tingling!"

"I know that sounds trite and cliché," the other said, apparently missing Mike's comment, "but it's true. Without you, that group will just fall apart and fail. All of you need to stand together if you are to have a chance."

"Together we are greater than the sum of our parts."

"Exactly. Leo is the strength, Rose is the spirit, Peach is the heart, and you are the mind."

"But Shelly's much smarter than I am," Mike said.

"True, but you are destined to be a part of the group that fights Bowser. She's just been swept up in the stream of fate of Leo and Peach. Same with Yosh and Goombard."

"Hmm…" Mike wasn't quite sure what to say.

"I know you came here for answers, but I can't give you any. Not yet. You'll need to find most of them yourself."

"No offense, but it's not like I came here specifically to talk to you. I was the only source of answers I was expecting to use."

"Oh," the other person said. "Sorry, I get on a bent sometimes."

"Not a problem, Obi-Wan." _Although he sounds more like Yoda_, Mike thought to himself.

"Heh… You know, Mike, your grandfather would have been very proud of how far you've come. He was a great man."

"Yeah. How…" Mike thought for a second, "On second thought, never mind."

"You're learning," the Toadstool said, smiling.

Suddenly, there was a loud knocking on the front door. "Open up in there!" a voice from outside yelled. Mike looked over to see what all the commotion was. The bartender came out from behind the bar and walked up to the door.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Open the door!"

"May I ask why?"

The voice sounded confused, "…Because I asked."

"Do you have a search warrant?"

"No…"

"Well I'm sorry gentlemen, but I can't let you in here."

"But…"

"You know the rules. No warrant means I get to shoot you as soon as you get in here."

"But…"

"You know what? My trigger finger is feeling rather itchy today."

There was a disappointed silence, followed by, "We'll be back."

Walking back to the bar, the bartender deadpanned, "Oh, woe is me. The goons will be coming back." Looking at Mike, he said, "Crap, he did it again."

"Who? Me?" Mike asked, looking around.

"No, your friend," the bartender replied, returning to his customary position behind the bar. Mike looked at the vacant stool next to him. "He always does that," the bartender continued, "disappearing when I'm not looking. He hasn't paid his tab in over three months."

"Well, I guess I better get going, too," Mike said, laying some coins on the bar.

"Use the back door," the bartender said, pointing to a door at the end of the bar. "It leads out to an alley and it's a bit less conspicuous."

"Thanks."

Mike was walking back to the base, feeling much better about himself. He must have seemed like an easy mark, because someone called out to him, "Hey, kid, want to play a game of chance?"

Mike grinned and walked over, saying, "Ah, but is not life a game of chance in itself?" The small crowd around the table parted to let Mike through. Mike grabbed the chair in front of the card table, spun it around on one leg, and sat down on it backwards. It was now that Mike saw who it was that called out to him. Mike had to try exceptionally hard not to gape, as she was an anthropomorphic crocodile, with white scales on the underside of her jaw and, or so Mike guessed, down her stomach and tail. The rest of her scales, peculiarly enough, were a light shade of pink. Guessing her lineage, Mike suddenly wished he hadn't left his bazooka at home.

"You seem a bit… surprised," she said.

Looking around a bit, Mike replied, in a corny Australian accent, "Aww crikey!"

Mike suddenly found a claw hovering an inch from his face. The con artist said, "Continue that statement, and I will rip out your larynx through your nose."

"That's snot very funny."

She sighed. "Quite the joker, eh?"

"People say I'm a card."

"Interesting bridge between subjects."

Mike smiled. "Quite the compliment coming from a rummy." She sighed again. "Come on, admit it," Mike continued, "I'm a cut above the rest."

"Look, are you going to play or not, kid?" she asked, frustrated.

"I've been playing this whole time, but sure, let's continue on with your game."

"Fine." She pulled out three shells and a red marble. "I'm assuming you've heard of the shell game?"

"Hasn't everyone?"

"You'd be surprised."

"How much to play?"

"Five coins."

Mike placed his money on the table and said, "Ok, now you put five coins on the table."

"Why?"

"Well, why should I play if I can't win anything?"

"Not everyone wins."

"True, but the possibility needs to be there."

"Fine." The crocodile put five coins on the table next to Mike's.

Mike rested his forearms on the small table and said, "Shuffle the shells, oh scaly one."

"Fine," she said, placing the marble under the center shell. She then started to move the shells around. Mike stared intently at the shell the marble was under, knowing that it wouldn't be there when it was all said and done. After a minute of shuffling, she stopped, rested her shoulders on the table and her snout on her claws, and said mockingly, "So then, oh soft-skinned one, where is the marble?"

"Well… I'm pretty sure it's in the center one still."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah." Quicker than she could react, Mike grabbed the two outside shells and flipped them over, revealing nothing. "It's not under these two, so it must be under the middle one. Tootles." With a smile and a wink, he scoped up the 10 coins and walked away.

A few minuets later, Mike knocked on the front door of the base. After a moment, Rose said, "Who's there?"

"I'm the viper. I've come to vipe your vindows," Mike said in a German accent.

The door opened a crack. "Mike?"

"Yes?"

The door opened, and Mike walked through. He was promptly hugged by Rose, who said, "I'm so glad you're safe. Where'd you go?"

"A bar."

"A bar?" Rose paused for a second, "Please tell me you didn't order a milk."

"Nah, I had a root beer. How's Leo?"

"He just woke up. Come on." Rose led him upstairs and into Leo's room, where Leo was reclined on his bed, bandages wrapped around his forehead and chest. Peach was sitting on the bed next to him, giving him something to eat.

Looking up, she said, "Mike, you're back."

"Back?" Leo asked.

"Oh, I just had some running away to do," Mike said, sitting on the end of the bed opposite Peach. Leo snorted. "So… Why'd you do it?" Mike asked after a while.

"Do what?"

Mike blinked a few times, the said, "Do we have to go over this again?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's a shame, because I'm not going anywhere until you do."

"Mike," Peach said, "Leo needs his rest right now."

Leo sighed, "Peach, I'm your big brother, you don't need to protect me. I'll tell them."

"So go ahead," Mike said.

"Roughly a week ago, I was approached by some… operatives."

"Operatives?"

"Of Bowser. They gave me an 'interesting proposition.' Basically, if I gave them you, they'd deliver my parents."

Mike desperately wanted to say, "And you bought that?" but figured it wouldn't really help out much.

Unfortunately, Rose didn't share his sentiment and said, "And you believed that?"

"Yes, I did." Looking at Mike, Leo continued, "But then you had to go and screw everything up."

Standing up, Mike said, "Well, next time you want to put me on a suicide mission, at least have the common decency to ask me first." With that, Mike walked out of the room, Rose right on his heels.


End file.
